Richard Strauss - Ein Heldenleben | Semyon Bychkov | WDR Sinfonieorchester

Richard Strauss - A Hero's Life | Semyon Bychkov | WDR Symphony Orchestra Richard Strauss' "Ein Heldenleben", played by the WDR Symphony Orchestra under the direction of its then chief conductor Semyon Bychkov. Recorded on June 19, 2002 in the Cologne Philharmonie. Richard Strauss - A Hero's Life op. 40 00:00:00 Der Held 00:04:16 Des Helden Widersacher 00:07:44 Des Helden Gefährtin 00:20:40 Des Helden Walstatt 00:28:03 Des Helden Friedenswerke 00:34:26 Des Helden Weltflucht und Vollendung Historic recording from the WDR Klassik-Archiv. WDR Symphony Orchestra Semyon Bychkov, conductor Hans Hadulla, director ► Find out more about the symphony orchestra, concerts and current live streams at https://sinfonieorchester.wdr.de ► The WDR Symphony Orchestra on   / wdrsinfonieorchester   ► Further concerts and introductions to works from the world of classical music, symphonic crossover, choral singing and concerts for children can also be found in the ARD Mediathek: https://www.ardmediathek.de/klassik Introduction to the work After his "Till Eulenspiegel", Richard Strauss was inspired by literary works on several other occasions: in 1896, he completed "Also sprach Zarathustra", probably the first tone poem based on a work of philosophy. With "Don Quixote" (1897), he again took on a figure from narrative world literature. Strauss then pursued a more general poetic idea: the idea of the hero - the free man, entangled in the struggles of existence, who must face hostility, bring his works into the world and complete himself. The work has clear autobiographical traits - evident in the second half, in which themes from other tone poems by Strauss can be heard. The "Heldenleben" is the tonal balance sheet of his own artistic destiny, which one of Strauss's admirers, the French writer Romain Rolland, compared with the imaginary hero of Beethoven's "Eroica": "The old, revolutionary traits have disappeared, and like the outer world, the hero's enemies [...] take up a great deal of space [...]. There is also a scourging contempt in 'Heldenleben', an evil laughter that we never find in Beethoven. Little goodness." The hero is revealed in the powerfully sweeping E flat major theme; in the counterpart "Des Helden Gefährtin", Strauss' wife Pauline Strauss-de Ahna is meant - in the form of the soulful solo violin, which joins the hero in a duet. However, the hero's adversaries appear like a caricature beforehand: know-it-all gentlemen critics with pointed, unattractive, "snarling" (according to the score) contributions that displace the hero's theme into the bass. The "flight from the world" becomes a spiritual exaltation - represented by a quotation from "Thus Spoke Zarathustra". (Text: Oliver Buslau)