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Richard Strauss's "Vier letzte Lieder": The Ultimate "opus ultimum"Author(s): Aubrey S. Garlington, Jr.Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 73, No. 1 (1989), pp. 79-93Published by: Oxford University Press

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Richardtrauss'sieretzteLieder.TheUltimatepus ltimum

AUBREY S. GARLINGTON,JR.

CRITICS and historians like have long honoredand respected he idea

of theopus ultimum,hat finalworkwhichformallyrings hecomposer'scareerto a conclusion.1At timesresponsesmay seem near mystical nthatconsciously r unconsciously uch creations reregardeds statementsof greatportentbefore the finalmystery. he mythswhichhave risenaroundtheopus ultimum ccasionally endto cloud ssuesofunderstandingon the part of the sensitive, ontemporaryisteneror to be overlookedby moredispassionate riticism. heArtof Fugue,Falstaff,n unfinishedRequiem, Parsifal, etc., assume a differentignificancen the mindsofmanybecauseoftheir tatus s thefinal tatement ftheir reators.Whether

or not otherworks re in process s not theissue.Whiletheopus ultimummaynotbe the ast actualworkat hand, t isthe astcreation, r statementin a genre, finale o a career, hedefinitivetatement.fsuch be planned,so muchthebetter.

It is revealing o examinea singlecomposer'scareerand activity nthebasis of thefinal tatement,ut is it useful o utilize theopusultimumas a metaphorforunderstandinghe essence of a style encapsulated nthe composer'swork? Is thereany reason to regard n opus ultimum sa culturalphenomenon?n truth,t is alwaysdifficultf not impossible ocome to

gripswiththe ast

gaspof a

particulartylewith

nygreatprecisionbecause the perceptions f the ebb and flow of historical rocess re quitedifferentn retrospectfromwhat they were at the time when theyrepresented living eality. inceMonteverdi's istinction etween prima"and "seconda prattica," he notion thatstyle s not so mucha single,n-divisible ntitybut a near-infiniteumberof differinglementsdeemedappropriate s needs and occasion demandmakes it impossible o focusuponthe astmoments fa styledivorced rom ersonal, umandimensions.

' The classic statement s that by AlfredEinstein,"Opus Ultimum" nEssays on Music (New

York, 1956), pp. 64-89. Thisparticular ssayhad originallyppeared n The MusicalQuarterly, XXII(1937).

79







80 TheMusicalQuarterly

Epochs, unlikehumanlives,do not close so neatlyand only historianswith heproverbial0/20hindsightaneffortlesslyetermineuch finalities.

The case withRichardStrauss'sVier letzte Lieder(1948)

isuniquein the annals of Westernmusic: 1) it is a trueopus ultimum or he com-

poser, pparently lanned nd executedas such; 2) these ongs lso occupyan analogousplace in termsof the finality f GermanRomanticism;nd(3) these compositions,writtenby whom theywere,when theywere,andwhere heywere,offer nusual nsightsnto certain spects fcreativityand society. It may be argued that these songs even make one thinkdifferentlybout the final phases of "traditional" Western ivilization.To bring uch claims nto focus t is necessary o reviewStrauss's areer,inbrief.2

Richard Strauss 1864-1949) lived long enoughto become a legendin his time.He was thatparticular ind of creatorwho "flowers"at onemoment n history, roceedsto "flourish," nd then continues o liveonuntil it seems time has passed him by. Why? Perhapsbecause so manyeventsthat caused reorientationsf values occurredduringhis lifetime,and the significancef thesechanges eems to have had little mpactonthe ndividual imself. trausswas very ld when he died,buthe had beennot only remarkably iftedthroughout is life,he had remained ctiveas a composeruntil the end. In his youthhe was considered wonder

at a time n the late nineteenthnd earlytwentieth enturieswhenmanygifted omposers ived. If, by the timeofhisdeath,Strauss eemed ome-what passe to many,out of touchwithparadigmatichangeswhich hadaltered hehighWestern ultural raditions,t leasthe continued o composeuntil almost his very ast breath.A listofhismajoraccomplishmentsvernearly ixtyyears s revealing:Aus Italien 1886); Don Juan and Tod und

Verkldrung1889); Macbeth (1887-88, reworked,1889-90); Till Eulen-spiegel 1895); Also sprachZarathustra1896); Don Quixote (1898); EinHeldenleben1899).

It is significanthat by his thirty-fifthirthday he orchestralworksforwhichhe isbest remembered ad beenwritten. llpredate he twentieth

2 The literature n RichardStrauss s extensive.The work list and bibliography,ompiledbyRobertBailey in The New GroveDictionary London, 1980), XVIII, 234-39, is themostcompletelisting o date. (The textby MichaelKennedy s an abridgedversionofhis book; see below.) I havefound the followingparticularly seful: E. H. Mueller von Asow, Richard Strauss: ThematischerVerzeichnis, vols. (Vienna, 1959-74) (the Vier etzte Lieder are discussed n Vol. III, 1332-38);Norman el Mar,Richard trauss: Critical ommentarynHisLife ndWorks, vols. London,1962-72; rev. and corrected,1978; Ithaca, 1986); WilliamMann,RichardStrauss:A Critical tudyof the Operas (London, 1964); WalterPanofsky,Richard Strauss: Partitur ines Leben (Munich,

1965); MichaelKennedy,RichardStrauss London, 1976); Max Knight, rans., ConfidentialMatter:TheLetters fRichard trauss ndStefan weig, 931-1935 Berkeley,977);PamelaM.Potter,"Strauss'sFriedenstag:A PacifistAttempt t PoliticalResistance,"TheMusicalQuarterly, XIX/3(Summer,1983), 408-24.







Vier etzteLieder 81

century.Berlioz'sgreatworkon orchestration ad also been editedandbrought p to date,3and Straussbasked ntheglory fthegrandGermanictradition,now in its post-Wagnerian, ost-Brucknerian,ost-Brahmsianphases.But to be a German n the late nineteenthentury,o be a majorcompositional alent, nd not to composean operawas difficult o justify.Thus, in 1894 Strauss urnedhishand to a neo-Wagnerianffair,Guntram,whichwas not a success.This was followed n 1901 byFeuersnot, one-actopera which also failedto please critic,composer,and public alike. In1905, however,Strausshithis stride s an opera composerwithSalome,and his majorcreative nergieswereto be devoted to theatermusicfromthen on: Elektra (1909); Der Rosenkavalier1911); Ariadneauf Naxos(1912, revised1916); Die FrauohneSchatten1919); Die dgyptischeelena

(1928); Arabella 1933).These operashad librettos y a mostdistinguishedndgiftedAustrian

intellectual f aristocraticeritage, ugovonHofmannsthal.twasStrauss'sgood fortune o findsuch a collaborator, r, to be moreprecise, o bechosenby such a poet.4While heywere never ruly lose friends,traussand von Hofmannsthal ere able to worktogether eryeffectively.ftervon Hofmannsthal'sntimely eath n 1929,Strauss xperienced ifficultiesin continuing o compose operas.The last significant orkof the 1930sis Die schweigsame rau (1935), witha librettoby StefanZweig.His last

opera was Capriccio,completed n 1941 and producedin 1942, withalibrettoby ClemensKrauss. These are the peaksof Strauss's areer:otherworks-hisballets,cantatas,orchestralompositions,hambermusic, tc.-were also writtenduringtheseyears.The majorityof the famoussongshad been composed earlier,priorto WorldWarI, but Strausscontinuedto compose nthisgenre swell. The roster s animpressivene.

Criticalopinion is reasonably onsistentwithrespectto Strauss'sac-complishments. is career s viewed as an "interesting"ne, oftentimesbrilliant, ccasionally spotty. None of the genuinely bad taste" music

he composedhas been citedhere.) It is commonplace o speakof a declinesetting n afterDer Rosenkavalier.Yet, regardless f the acclaim given,not one critic rcommentatorcceptsStrausswithout erious quivocations,and even audience reactionshiftsfrom ime to time and workto work.

Certain chools of thought vensee Strauss o be in decline ust beforehe came into contact with von Hofmannsthal. pinions obviouslyvarywiththe critic t hand,but the crux of theissue,and thereasonsfor uchcriticaldilemmas n the firstplace, seem rooted in the simplefactthat

3 Strauss dited,revised, nd modernizedBerlioz'sfamous reatise etween1904-5.4 The Englisheditionof the correspondences publishedas A Working riendship:The Cor-

respondence etweenRichard trauss nd HugovonHofmannsthal,rans.HannsHammelmannand Ewald Osers New York,1961).








Strauss's musical style maturedearly and neverchangedsubstantially.There s littlegrowth,maturation,hanges nvision, esponse o innovativemusical

tyles,nd no rethinkingrnew

explorations,nlyconsistent om-

position.The resultwas a series f ndividualworks,wellshaped, ftentimesbrilliantlyrafted, utrarely arth hattering.

Such a state of affairs s especiallybothersome ince Strauss cameto musicalmaturityarly n his career nd remained n a plateau preciselyat the time of the brilliant unsetofGermanRomanticism. ogetherwithStrauss the most important alents n the Germanic nd Austrianworldswere Gustav Mahlerand ArnoldSchoenberg,who bothhad moreto sayto the future-that s, our immediate ast-thandid Strauss.His compo-sitionalorientations ery

quicklybecame dated. Around himthe musical

world turned tself nside out, whilehis workcontinued o be groundedin traditional ractices.Technically, is stylewas at one withthetotalityof traditional onalities and triadicharmonies, he principal heoreticalconstruct f thepast two centuries.His style lso embodied hatfervencyembraced and revealedby Romantic maginations,articularlyhe idealsand values ofGermanRomanticism ith tswondrouslymotive,vocative,profoundnsightsntotheessenceofbeing ndfeeling.

Yet, the verynature of technicalunderstandingf music,the "intra-institutionality"f the craft, o utilize Thomas Kuhn'sprovocativemeta-phor, beganto shift fter1890.s Strauss, n the otherhand,did notpassthroughuchrefiningires.Andnotonlywas the nner ssenceoftraditionalartmusic alteredto such an extentthata majorparadigmatichange anbe noted takingplace betweencirca 1890 and 1914, the "extra-institu-tionality" f Europeanhighculture-thatong-livedontinuumwhich en-compassesnearlythe totalityof Western ivilization-underwentmajorreshiftingf values as a resultof the cataclysms f WorldWarI. It maywell be thata partof Strauss'sdilemma-at least as seenby latercritics-stemsfrom his commitment o stability,he statusquo, both intra- ndextra-institutionally.e went out of step precisely t thattime nhistorywhenthenature fcreativitynd theshapeoftheworldbegantheprocessesofconvulsive,adical hange.

Whywas he so committed o tradition ndunreceptiveo innovation?Strauss'spersonalityffers clue. He was indeedgifted, ut he was alsoknownas a consummatelyourgeoisndividual.He wrote ymphoniconepoems as abstraction nd theoretical peculationbegan to be the orderof the day. He was at his best nmanipulatingich,voluptuous rchestral

s Thomas Kuhn's significanttudy,The Structure f ScientificRevolution,was first ublishedin 1962 by theUniversityf ChicagoPress;a second edition ppeared n 1970. The critical ommen-taryhas been extensive, o say the least, but regardless f thecurrent ituation n "technical"phi-losophy,theprecepts nd theories ffered ere remainof inestimable alue to thecultural istorian.







Vier etzteLieder 83

textureswhen concernwitheconomyof means was ust around hecorner.He evinced a reasonablyhealthy so it would appear)middle-classenseof valuesas the creative

maginationsf his

contemporariesellvictimmore

often than not to angst,neurosis, nd, at times,psychotic tates.Thecreative magination ften appeared more engrossedthan not with theraptures nd tortures f self-analysis, hereasStrauss remainedblandlyoblivious o anynecessity or uchanalytic wareness.

He worked n the same ViennawherefirstAntonBruckner, ohannesBrahms,Hugo Wolf,then GustavMahler,ArnoldSchoenberg, lbanBerg,and AntonWebernoomedso prominently. ballet of hisshared hestagewith the brilliantyoung Stravinskynd other major innovatorsunder

Diaghilev's egisn Paris. He was a

prolific omposernda financialuccess

when it was verynearlyde rigueur hatthe truegeniushad to be bothconsciouslyrestrainednd verynearly poverty tricken s well. Finally,he married ne of theharpies f theage when a composer'sgreatpassionswere bettermythologized y the likes of Alma Mahler nd HeleneBerg.(It is difficulto believethatStrauss nd Sigmund reudever ived n thesamecity.)

As if all thiswere not enough, trausswas not evenvaguelynterestedin beingconsidered n intellectual.Whenhe did attempt o think, s thecorrespondence ithvon Hofmannsthalndicates, hepoet brought imupquickly, slapped his hands and brainroundly, nd thatwas that. Straussrarelymade the sameerror wicewithvonHofmannsthal.6

Strausswas one of the veryfew composers n Westernhistorynotto have a sure sense of taste. Some mightplace Berlioz in thiscategoryas well.)There recertain rchestralompositionsthe ymphonia omestica(1904) and Eine Alpensinfonie1915)] which offend almosteveryonein one wayor theother.During time festrangementrom onHofmann-sthal Strausswrotehis own libretto s wellas the musicfor short pera,Intermezzo (1924). The results are embarrassinglyommonplace.Thisworkconcerns courtconductor-composerho playsskat, a fashionableViennesecard game, enjoys good wine, and smokes excellentcigars.Heis also a good businessman. n this "Eden" a misunderstoodetterpre-cipitatesa violent matrimonial iff.Eventually, he composer-conductorand his outrageouslymotionalharridan f a wifekiss andmakeup. Con-tentment revails; he skat gamescontinue.The "intermezzo" s finished,theplot s commonplace nd so is themusic.

6 The contrastbetweentheaffable, greeableStrausson the one hand and theprickly,rrogantvon Hofmannsthal n the other s discernedn manyof their xchanges.Note especiallyA Working

Friendship .., pp. 239-42, regarding ertainaspects of Ariadne. Von Hofmannsthal ven foundhimselfexplainingcertain matters to Pauline Strauss, situationundoubtedlydistasteful o him.Strauss lwaysmakespeace and retreats; on Hofmannsthal emains ver ssuredofhisownsuperior-ityeven whenacknowledginghesignificancefthemusic.








There are certainorchestral assages n Arabella,for nstance he firstinterludenActI, that remechanical o an unwarrantedxtreme ndwhichdemonstrate n amazing ack of sensitivityo thematters t hand.In the

same opera, thegiftof a glassof waterdoes not evoke the samemagicalmusicas did theofferingf a silver ose. n the morehighly egarded orks,there are times when the composerdemonstrates remarkableack ofsensitivityn the midst of stunninglyrilliant ompositional fforts: hecase of Salome with its notorious"Dance of the SevenVeils" is a casein point, and the finalorgiasticmoments n Elektra are suspectas well.

In sum, Strauss the man, and in certainrespectsthe composer,wasthe consummatebourgeois, ven a "nonhero,"to use one popularbio-grapher's erceptive ategorization.'Sophisticated astes are alien to such

people, and Strauss enjoyed the comfortablemiddle-class xistence ofthe successful ntrepreneur:everbe overlydifficult; o not makewavesif such can be avoided; do not disturb he statusquo unless the resultsbe a genuine hock ndgoodbox office-the ubjectmatterfSalome sagaina case in point.At all costs seek out and enjoydomestic omforts;musichere,moneythere. A verygood Biedermeierxistencemay be livedouteven in the twentieth enturyunder such arrangements.ut hereis therub: Strauss'sparticularpart of the twentieth enturyn his particularplacewas nottoremain omfortablyourgeois.

It was Strauss's singularly nfortunateot to make major wrongmoraland ethicaldecisions.His errors, oweverunintentional, erecom-mittedas part of a culture which erred on a scale previously nknowninWestern ivilization. trauss, heecht Germangentile f the atetwentiesand thirties, implymade wrongmoves.Being"outside" heroic dealism,he sank to the level of Fascism and came to peace quicklyenoughwithNational Socialism. n thecaseof Die schweigsamerau,muchto hisdismaybut beyondhis effortsnd powersto alter the circumstances,weighadto be dismissed implybecausehe was Jewish. or Strauss uch an event

was an irritation nd not much more.The consequencesfor the cultureweredifferent.

StraussbecamepresidentftheReichsmusikkammer,ndhe was knownto be fashionablynti-Semitic,ven if his son was married o a Jew. Butto be "fashionably nti-Semitic,"n accurate if heinousdescription ormany at certainmoments n history, akes on, in retrospect, horribleconnotation n the 1920s and 1930s. To be Jewish fterHitlercame topowerwas to faceannihilation.thas seemed o someto be but theultimatemark of the failure f Western hristian ulturewhenboth Catholic and

Protestantworlds could witnessthe Holocaust and not raise significant

7 GeorgeMarek,RichardStrauss:TheLife ofa Non-Hero New York, 1967).







Vier etzteLieder 85

protest n the name of humanitarianusticeuntilpoliticalconsiderationsdictatedcoursesof action. In such a context,businesscan neverproceed

"as usual" after the issues are resolved, f, indeed,such criseseverfadeinto resolution.To their everlasting redit some artists,such as HermannHesse

and Thomas Mann, left the horror which became Germany;amongcomposersPaul Hindemithwas the foremost entile o go voluntarilyntoexile. Strauss,Karl Orff,WernerEgk, Boris Blacher,among others,re-mained. It is deceptively acileto condemn the choicesmade by others,but to recognize hesituations not to find nymerit n thecircumstanceswhichcaused such choices to be made. The gruesomenessf it all makes

anystance of

neutralityntenable nd not a viable

option.The best

in-tentionswillnot suffice.Wrong ecisionsweremade; the moralcorruptionbecame part of the individual,regardless f beliefs or actions to thecontrary.

As a "good" GermanStrausswas purposefully nawareof as muchas he could ignore.Throughout is life and careerhe had rarely een con-cernedwithmoral and ethicalissues. Such concernswereleftto others.Being the consummate ourgeoishe did his dutyand performed is ob.He becamepersonallynvolved nlywhenhis familywas threatened.hen,he

protested ufficientlyrom he

strengthf his

respectabilitynd

reputa-tion to protecthis daughter-in-lawnd his grandchildren.is sons-in-law,however, isappearedntothe concentrationamps.

The inherentmmorality f Strauss'sactions is best grasped n lightof his last opera, Capriccio,a "conversation iece," and a mostelegantconcoction concerned as it is with the relationship etweenword andtone. The libretto s cunninglynd complexlyorganized s it evokesaneighteenth-centurymbiance. (There are sufficientibrettos urvivingoindicatethatthe sortof theatrical onceitClemensKraussorganizedntoan effective

ieceof theaterhad a

long-standingradition

eachingack

at least to Casti's book forPrima a musicae poi le parole,setby Salieriin 1786, if not earlier.)8Flamand is a composer,Olivier poet. TheyviefortheCountess'favors. he actionunfoldsn a beautifulhateau;birthdaypreparations re organized, estivitiesbound,concerts re scheduledandgiven.The repartee s brilliant,playful,and repletewithwittydoubleentendres.Eventually, he Countessmustdecide betweenher two ardentsuitors. he has played nherowndivertissementongenough.The situationhas to be resolved.But whenMadeleinemakes her choicebetweenthetwolovers, hewillalsobe

makingdecision

egardinghe

questionfwhich

rt," Ironically,Mozart's Die Schauspieldirektornd Salieri'soperapremiered n thesameoccasion.The "in jokes" of theatrical rientations rovidea steadysource of material ormusic theater, ndCapricciocomestoward he end of a long ine of suchtreatments.








music or poetry,Wortoder Ton, is the supreme rt.Only thencan theopera based on the day's eventsbe finished nd performed.Madeleinewaversbetween hesonnetOlivierhas written orherand themusicwhichFlamandcomposedforthe sonnet.Which s the "real," the "true" force,whichwillconquerherheart?Onlyshe candecide.

Madeleineis left alone to meditate,muse, and determine he futureas the astsceneunfolds.Notehow involved, ow intellectually addeningin a hypergamesmanship-likeaytheplothas developed, nd notethe ongmonologuewhichbringsheoperato itsenigmaticonclusion.

The Major-Domohas announcedthatOlivierwill awaittheCountess'sdecisiontomorrow t 11:00 A.M.; he willbe in the ibrary. t firstMade-leine is convinced hat the situation s a disasterbecause Flamandis alsoto be in the library t the same time. Do thewordsmove herheart,ordoes the musicspeakmorestrongly?t is fruitless o attempt o separatethetwo,nowbound nseparably.One arthas beenredeemed ythe other "(Eine Kunst durchdie andere erlost ) She plays the harp and hums toherself s sheattemptso reach conclusion. lamand sone kindofperson,a "great spiritwith beautifuleyes" (die grosseSeele mit den schonenAugen). On the otherhand,Olivierhas a powerfulmindand s a passionateman (den starkenGeist,den leidenschaftlichenann). She knew t pleasedher to

appearweak,but now love is

destroyinger. In

choosingone she

loses the other.She speaksto her mage nthemirror,emandingn answer,an endingto the affair,nd a conclusion o theoperawhichwillbe valid.Indeed, her final statement s a rhetorical uestion: Is there an endingthat sgood? Gibtes einen,der nicht rivialst?)

The Major-Domo returns to announce that supper is served.TheCountess miles nto themirror,ilently idsher magefarewell, nd,whilehumminghemusicto thesonnet,passes slowlyfrom heroom.TheMajor-Domo watchesher;thenhe too looks ntothemirror s if to find n answerto theCountess's ehavior s the curtain alls.

This is as elegant,sophisticated piece of music theater s exists. tis also as complicatednorganizationndconceit s anythingon Hofmann-sthal ever preparedfor Strauss.The arguments wondrously omplexasword and tone, love, passion,commitment,heoryversus ctuality, tc.,areexplored n terms f a series f densely tructuredelationships.traussembodies it all in a musicalstylethathad been consistent ince at leastthetimeofDerRosenkavalier,ver hree ecades earlier.

As noted, the ending s genuinely nigmatic. he Countess eaves thesumptuousness f the room; the stage s vacant, nd who knows, avetheCountess,what will happen the next morning t 11:00 in the library?9

9 Although hemusic has the last "word" on the stage,theplotremains nresolved,nd a spiritof discreet mbiguity revails.







Vier etzteLieder 87

In the originalproductionthis elegancewas the interior f the CuivillesTheater in the Residenzpalaz n Munich. A modem Munichproductionin 1966 made the

stageseem but

partof that theater, n extension f

the auditorium, hereby ompounding he sophisticationt hand. Is thestage an extensionof the audience or is the audiencebut another spectof the "real" life witnessed n thestage n theopera?Suchdazzlingcom-plexities remarvelous o contemplate.

But in theMunich of 1942 theverynotion of revelingn such sensualand intellectual umptuousnesss in error. It is simplywrongheadedohave consideredaestheticspeculationand beauty of creation n such away at that time.) In fact,the CuivillesTheater was dismantled hortlyafterCapriccio'spremiere nd put into storage.A good thing, oo, sincethe Residenzpalazwas heavilybombed. The theater s now reconstructedand restored o its eighteenth-centuryococo glory.Yet, the aura of awrong ecision, seriousmistaken theaffairsfcreativity,emains.

What kind of wrongdecision?Various moderncritics,mostnotablyGeorgeSteiner n Languageand Silence (1967) and In Bluebeard's Castle(1971), haveraised mbarrassing,nanswerableuestionswhichpassbeyondthe conditionsof being simplyrhetorical:Do the humanities umanize?Is there a genuineretreatfromthe inherentogic of the word into themorebarbaricorientations f the last fivedecadesof thepresent entury?Is there a failureon the poet's partto utilizethemagicof the word toshape moral decisions? s Christianityoo suspectto be the groundfora post-Holocaust orld?

It is betteror hepoet o mutilateisown onguehan odignifyhe nhumanitherwith isgift rhisuncaring.ftotalitarianule s so effectives tobreakll chancesofdenunciation,fsatire,hen etthepoet ease-andet he cholarease romditingthe lassics fewmiles ownhe oad romhe eathamp."0

In thisoutrageousbut, alas, viablehypothesis,teiner choesTheodorAdorno who had earlier claimed the unclaimable,"No poetry after

Auschwitz,""' a statementwhich mightbe expanded to read: "Therecan be no poetryafterAuschwitz." n fact, giventhe moralbankruptcyof Westernulture,manywould note that"there s no poetry, here an beno poetry,thereshould be no poetryafterAuschwitz,"thus acceptingfinality, cessation to traditional reative legancewhich houldnot con-tinuesince t cannotexist n either hepresence r aftermathf barbarism.

In the GermanRomantic raditionmusicwasregardeds thehighestorm

of poetry, product f the magination herewords eased to exist,permit-10 "Silence and thePoet," inLanguageand Silence,p. 54." Quoted in"Silence and thePoet," p. 53.








tingonlytranscendantlements f soundtopervade ndshapetheworld.12As a poet, a seer,a Magus n thisworld,the composertook on an even

greatermoral

responsibility.e should therefore e more faithful o the

Ideal than the poet who has only words to command.Such a premisedemands a completeemotional and intellectual esponseand awareness,valueswhichdidnot dominate ife n the thirtiesnd forties f this enturyanymorethan they do at present.Whathappens at such times to theaesthetic tance?to aesthetic urity? o creative legancefor tsownsake?Can we believe that "intra-institutional"rientations re such that theymust existtotally partfrom onnectionswith "extra-institutional"ssues?values?Who,if anyone, s exemptfrommoralobligations? rom esponseto a higheraw?

Thus,whatevers "wrong"withCapriccio,t s nota questionof creativefailure n the partof the composeror of his style.Morebeautifulmusichas rarely een writtennthe ate GermanRomantic radition. he problemlies in theveryexistenceof such an entity t thattime n history. vennow, the criticalmagination eeking o find oherency,rder, nd under-standing emainshauntedby 1942, Munich,Auschwitz.Can we everceaseto be disturbedby such phenomena?Kronos is no longer mportant reven significant: airos alone holds thekey to the issues at hand. Thereis nevera season when the unassimilable ecomesassimilated, ermittingthe horrorsftheend-brought n byhighEuropean ivilization ndculture-to be taken in stride.Capriccio exists, and we respond,but alwaysdifferentlyhanhad the yearof its creationbeen another, heplace beendifferent,nd infamyneverexistedoutside the opera house where t wasproduced.

To follow Strauss'sfew remaining ears afterthe ruinof Germanyis to become consciousof the kindof self-awarenesshatmayoccuraftera long, distinguished,ut blemished areerand life. He was tainted,tosay the least, by his "businessas usual" accommodationswithNational

Socialism,regardless f personal convictions nd intentions.He had toleaveGermany nd go to Switzerland ollowing he war. In 1948 he was"de-Nazified" nd in May, 1949,returnedo his homeat Garmisch-Parten-kirchen,wherehe died on September , 1949, severalmonthsbeforehiswife'sdeath.

Duringhis brief xile he stillcomposed.The old orderofGermanywasdead, and theveryfabric f Strauss's ompositionalwellbeingwassuspect.

"2 Edward A. Lippmann,"The Tonal Ideal of Romanticism," n FestschriftiirWalterWiorazum 30 December1966, ed. LudwigFinscher ndChristoph-HellmutahlingKassel, 1967), pp. 319-

426, calls attentionto perhapsthe ultimate ronyof the quest for total transcendancenherentnGermanRomanticism egardingmusic whenhe notes (p. 424) that "the romanticmode ofhearingis directed owardan invisibleworld . . a world that s imperceptibleven to hearing, etto which

onlyhearing angive ccess."







Vier etzteLieder 89

The world of music outside solatedGermanyhad done, and was doing,differenthingsn different ays,following therorientations ndvalues.

Yet,in 1947 the

composersketcheda

song,m

Abendrot,the first f

the Vier etzteLiederto takeshape.At this ime friend avehim volumeofnewlypublishedpoetrybyHermannHesse,and Straussmade a selectionof thepoemshe wantedto set. Thesesongswerecompletedn September,1948, but not performed ntil afterthe composer'sdeath. They werenot intended o be a cycle n thetradition f thatgenrebut have becomeone because of theirplace in the composer'scanon. Even the title s notthe composer'sown, and Strauss s not responsible orthe finalorderingwhere hefirst omposedsongcloses thegroup.Yet, the ogicof thisorderis

nearlyirresistible-the

engthof the four

songsbecomes ever

longer,in terms f time,not measures, rom he first o thelast. The threeHessepoems contain threestanzaseach, whereas m Abendrothas four. As thesongsbecomelonger, hetempoof each becomes lower s physicalmotionceases. The inevitable essationof sound at the close is an inevitable ut-comeofthesuspension f ife tself.

Thereremained mongother odds and ends after trauss'sdeath someunfinished horalmusic,but these songs,togetherwith the recently re-miered"Malvern,"13were the finalproductsof a long,distinguished,nd

problematicxistence.The Vier etzte Lieder is the composer'strueopus

ultimum.The songs are monologuesfor Strauss's favorite instrument," he

soprano voice. Either consciouslyor unconsciously,t mattersnot, hemust have conceived these worksas a personalevocationof thosesingershe had knownand loved,one of whomhe had married.Moresignificantly,the human voice is the ideal of the glorywhichhad been music,and asa "text-bearingnstrument"-theargon says it all-the voice, that oldestof all musicalmeans n history,s singularlyppropriate orthisfinal tate-ment.Not onlydo thesongsbecomea "last will and testament,"s befitsthe opus ultimum, heyare, n truth,n apologiaas well as the finalmon-umentto GermanRomanticism.We may also thinkof them as the opusultimumfor that wondroustraditionn thattheyare the last genuinelynineteenth-centuryerman Romanticmusic to be composed. Styleshadchanged,paradigms hifted, nd the culturalfoundations f societyandthe world which had been the basis for Romanticism ad vanished.Theafterglow f the grandtradition s experienced n these compositions.Theyarean end,nota beginningnanysense, ndthey repersonal, ntense,introspectiveworkswith little f any connection o the outsideworldat

13 "Malvern"finally remieredn New York on January 0, 1985. (See TheNew YorkTimes,Jan.11, 1985.)








the timeof their reation. n every ensetheseworks reanunusual, niquecontributionomusic ndcultural istory.

Friihlingembodies a pensivenessof language and mood ironicallyautumnal n quality;thebrooding, ark, onalorganizationf theopeningis hardlyspringlike. hat which existsin springtime,n lightof what isto come, thenewness, heresurrectionf theyear, s perceived ifferentlyby an eighty-six-year-oldan writingbout spring nd theyoung and/ormiddle-agedmanwho may live to experience oththesongand theotherspringtimess well.The soaring oprano hapesan energeticine affirmativein ts ronynot matchedntheremainingongs.

Septemberfollows, nd it is significantn this ontext hat ummer,heseason of the fullness f life, s not acknowledgedfter heburgeoningf

spring. nimageofautumn,n uxtapositiono that xperiencednFriuhling,is a bittersweetill indeed.Thefallingfthegolden eaves, he feeble milesof late summerwhichmustbe understood s thewaning f life tself, heessence of a dyingdream,and the finalshuttingf the eyes are breath-takinglyad metaphors.Here,an imageofclosing, ffinality,s opposedtothat of openingand unfolding xperienced n the first ong, leaves thelistenerwith vivid mpressionf an end,not a beginning. ndwhich ife sit that concludes? he individual's? he season's?theworld's ery xistence?Such is theeleganceof theverbalpoeticstatement,nd such s thepalpablebeautyof themusicthat each nterpretation,nturn,sviable.But thisdoesnot explainthe richdensity fplausiblemeaningswhen llpotentialitiesndpossibilities re experienced imultaneously.he soul willinglyndreadilyaccepts multiplicityfvisions, erbal nd nonverbal like.

Beim Schlafengehen as an obvious magery. he weariness f theday,that which s life tself,herecognitionfnight hroughhe nnocent yesofthe trusting hild, oined withvisions of the nightexperienced ia thewonderof a childlike magination,re haunting. he injunction o ceasethinking,ease doing, ndsimply o to sleep, hus ettinghe soultakewing,

is as apparent s it is moving. romFriihlinghrougheptemberntoBeimSchlafengehenmoods shift ntently nd inexorably, uiding he listenerthrough realm of wonder and awe withrespect o mysterynd finality.

Two musicalconceptsbear notinghere,one pertainingo thewaythecycle is unified, he otherrelatedto intensificationf emotional everies.Followingthe last line of the second verse on the words, Wollen ich nSchlummerenken," hesolo French orn, hatGerman omanticnstrumentpar excellence,briefly esumes ts solitary call" heardat thevery nd of

September, ollowinghe words, mudgewordenenugenzu." This instru-

mentwillalso figurenthe ntroductiono mAbendrot swell sbeing eardneartheendbefore he final extual tatements made. Suchuse of an in-struments obviously ery ffectives a means obind all elementsogether.







Vier etzteLieder 91

But no less importants the solo violin whichfollowsthe horn n BeimSchlafengehen henthemost extensivemusical nterluden the setpermitsone to meditate nd muse

uponwhat it is the soul

undergoes.Whenthe

sopranoresumes n the first ine of the next stanza,"Und die Selle un-bewacht,"the soul does indeedbeginto soar and move ntoanother ealm.

It is significanthat the last of these songs, m Abendrot,utilizesapoem by one of the finest yricpoets of the first loom of nineteenth-centuryGermanRomanticism, osephvonEichendorff.n itself hepoemis not an old man's poem nor is the imagery s sophisticatedr complexfor "modems" as that found n Hesse's deceptively implepoems. n thiscontext, however,m Abendrottakes on a dimension lien to its textasStraussmakeshispersonalfarewell. he two entities f the

poem-people?art and life? music and life?art and culture?-movehand in handthroughthe twilights the end drawsnear. Two larks,matchinghetwinessencesin the poetry,rise everascendingn a poignant ymbolof the brightnessand freshnessnherent n resurrection. hey are not to be consciouslyheeded, however,as the two souls wanderacross the land.14 The waycannot,mustnot,be lost in thegatheringuskof oncoming olitude.Butwhat a musico-poetic ision The starry ight f BeimSchlafengehenowconnectswiththe still peace of eveningn Im Abendrot.The animationof the first tterancen the set unwinds hroughhemelancholyf autumnand the speechless we felt t theexpiring reath f day. Onlyat theveryend is the final,ultimate rhetoricalquestion raised-"Can this perhapsbe death?" (Ist dies etwader Tod?) Themusicof thesymbolicarksfluttersbut remains n thesameplane.Time for scent spast.Animation s absent.Silencefalls, nd theend is experienced. he musicpermits o other nter-pretation.

At this point Straussturns n upon himself s he looks back to thatbetterday and time,the beginning f the ourneynow completed.Twoanticipatory half-phrases"-already oted in connectionwiththe French

horn-are completedwith a fullstatementn the strings s Strauss ecallsthe beginningsf his career nd theessenceof nineteenth-centuryoman-ticism n a remarkablemoment, reminiscence f the final hematic tate-ment nTod undVerklarung.n terms fculture ndcivilization he ourneyhas also come to a conclusion.What s bothamazing nd revealings thatthis quotation sounds entirely ppropriate nd not at all out of place.Strauss'smusical tylehad beenremarkablyonsistentornearly ixtyyears.

14 The age-oldmythof the lark rising o its home in the sun is a remarkable ymbol,sinceas the lark ascends,it blends into eternity. he selectionof the Eichendorff oem and its setting

at this time,by this composer, n thisway, "connects" with the totality f tradition oweverun-conscioussuchan act mayhave been. Englishreaders re more familiarwiththe dea throughGeorgeMeredith's remarkable ccomplishment,he longestsustained romancein the language,"The LarkAscending,"which, in turn,became the basis for one of Ralph VaughanWilliams'betterworks.








The soaring soprano lines, the beautifully onstructedpolyphonicorchestral extures nd timbres, he sure handwith the instrumentation,

etc.,recall the

lyricaleleganceof the final trio fromDer Rosenkavalier

as well.The years1948, 1911, 1889 meld ntoone. What an 1948 "mean"for 1889? what does 1889, or 1911 signifyn 1948, in 1949, followingAuschwitz,Belsen, Munich, fter lifeof sometragically rongdecisionsbut also following he creationof a number f consummatelyovelycom-positions?May not the resignationnd reflection onstitute n acknowl-edgment f that which was better,more nnocent, ruer o the waysofthe world not only as it was, or seemed to be, but as it should haveremained? uch a world,however,no longer xisted.There can be naughtbut silence on the

composer'spart-hehas come to his last moments nd

makeshis farewell. nd truly here an be nothing utsilencewith espectto the culture nd civilizationwhichgavethiscreator nd hisworks basisfor xistence.

It is impossibleto say for certain.Formalists laim, and rightlyo,that, like painting,music is neithertrue nor false,moral nor immoral.Music as musicis eithergood or bad. Othermatters re humanconcerns,and music achieves ts ultimatevaluessolelyin terms f perfectionn itsown intra-institutionality.n a real sense, however, hat which s createdis part of the entitywhich is the creator, nd to contemplate humanbeing taking wrongpath,no matterwhathis intentions,s to confrontissueswhichmustbe faced as the tradition s beheldin an afterglowol-lowing heconclusion o thatwhichgavethecreator'spiritts ife.

It would seemno accident,no fortuitouseries f circumstances,hatStraussconsciously inished is careerwithfourofhis morenearly erfectcreations, nblemished y eitherwronghumandecisions r faultymusicaljudgments,regardless f how his compositionalorientationshad beenshaped by such factors ll his lifelong.He returnedo a better ra in hisrecollections f Tod und Verkdarung:e remembered henhis own intra-

institutionalityas not in oppositionto everythinghe extra-institutionalrepresented.tylistically,e conjuredforthe last time thatwhich he didbest,musicforthesopranovoice and orchestra.n so doinghe recapturedhis own betterworld nd a better imefor ulture swell,before atastropheensued,and Western ivilizationwas destroyed y barbarians romwithin,not theexpectednvaders romwithout.

In terms of musical componentsalone the styleof this worldhadneverbeen alien to Strauss, ut it was a worldofgoodnessfromwhichhehad often strayed. If he could close his compositional career with a series

of songs recalling the past in such an evocative manner,he also acknowl-edged this world's existence when he made plans for his burial. At hiswishes, he was cremated, duringwhich an orchestra and three singersper-







Vier etzteLieder 93

formed he final trio fromDer Rosenkavalier. o be cleansedby fire ndreturned o dust and ashes, surrounded y the incandescence f a finalmusical

purification,s a remarkabletatementndeed.

The nearest crematoriumo Garmischwas one outside Munich,thescene of some of Strauss'sgreatest riumphs. ut also outside Munich,in anotherdirection, s a group of crematoria, ow monuments o thebestial actuality of civilization'sgreatestabominations.To juxtaposethe finalstatement y Strauss nd thatrepresentedy Dachau is to bringtogetherunassimilablemages. In this mythicscene of farewell fearthat Strauss'sfailure n taste andhis lack of sensitivitysserted hemselvesfor the last time. The lessonsoffered re invaluableones upon whichtomeditate.

In conclusion,note how it is that in Strauss's ase the astwords, astrequests, ast thoughts,ast compositions, he trueopus ultimum,ntra-institutionality,nd monuments f extra-institutionalailures, tyle,andideas-the totalityof the finalphases of Western istory-come ogetherin a series of complex,dense relationships hichremainproblematic ndunsettling.A kaleidoscopicseries of indelible impressionswith respectto the meaningof it all and the natureof creativity,radition,ociety,and culture, hat whichhasbeen, s opposedto thatwhichmight e,hauntsthe Vier etzteLieder,theuniqueopus ultimum orcomposer nd culture.It is a remarkabletatementwithrespectto the endingof Western ivili-zation as well. Such a phenomenonhad neverbeen encountered efore,and giventhe dissolutionof traditionalWestern ivilization nd culturalautonomy n a post-Holocaust, ostWorldWar I world, ts likewill neverbe heard gain.

strauss ultimoslieder

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