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- Strauss, Richard
Duration: 47 minutes
Description: Richard Strauss (1864-1949) composed his AUS ITALIEN, Op. 16 in 1886 following a formative journey through Italy, where he absorbed the landscapes, art, and musical life that deeply impressed the young composer. Conceived as a four-movement symphonic fantasy, the work marks Strauss’s first major step toward the tone-poem style that would later define his career. Each movement depicts an aspect of his travels: the sunlit vistas of the Italian countryside, the ancient ruins of Rome, the bustling streets and folk spirit of Sorrento, and finally a lively Neapolitan scene. Premiered in Munich in 1887 under the composer’s baton, AUS ITALIEN received mixed reactions, with some critics finding its programmatic vividness daring and others noting the youthful exuberance of its conception. Today, the work is valued as an important early milestone in Strauss’s evolution, offering a vibrant blend of descriptive color, sweeping Romantic lyricism, and the emerging dramatic instincts that would soon flourish in his celebrated tone poems. Instrumentation: 2+Picc.2(2nd d. EH).2.2+CBsn: 4.2.3.0: Timp.Perc(4): Hp: Str (9.8.7.6.5 in set). Reprint edition.