What is it in Richard Strauss's Don Juan that captures us from the first time we hear it and continues to excite and fascinate us each time we hear it again? The music of this symphonic poem is sweeping, virtuoso, brilliant, sensuous and wonderfully melodious. The orchestration, as in many of Strauss's works, is a stroke of genius. In 1887, the 23-year-old Strauss met soprano Pauline de Ahna, his wife to be. His passion for her and the fact that he was a young, successful and sought-after bachelor, motivated him to choose the most sensual theme of all times for his new work – Don Juan. Strauss used the unfinished work of the 19th-century German poet Nikolaus Lenau as the programmatic basis for this piece. His version is different from the opera Don Giovanni – the Mozart and Da Ponte rendering of the theme. In Lenau's version, Don Juan's immortality and incessant pursuit of women cause him great anguish and suffering. Weary of his life, he eventually lets his rival have the upper hand in a duel. Don Juan is the first in a series of six symphonic poems composed by Strauss between 1888-98, which won him international acclaim when he was still in his twenties. Although it was written by a 24-year-old, it is considered a mature work, one of the apexes of his oeuvre. At the beginning of the work, Don Juan is presented in an extrovert theme, imbued with youthful passion and emotion. This theme gives way to a love scene, which brings to mind the long love duet from Act II of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. Here, the violins sing a love duet with the cellos and the first horn. The second love scene presents the woman for whom Don Juan yearns most. No instrument is more suitable to depict tenderness, delicacy and the young woman's beauty than the oboe, intoning a simple and beautiful melody. Don Juan is overwhelmed by what he sees and is about to present his most significant theme, with which he wishes to impress, to sound somewhat threatening, and yet seem sensitive. Strauss therefore uses all four horns to present his "stunning" theme. The development section concludes with a dissonant chord of disappointment and frustration, followed by a somber silence that heralds Don Juan's bitter end. The recapitulation is Don Juan's own act, featuring a concise rendition of all his themes. The horns' theme appears in another key (a third higher), intensifying the tension. Henceforth unfolds the apex of the entire work – in tension, intensity and expression. Don Juan gives all he has, until his complete exhaustion. The tragic, minor key coda depicts the dying Don Juan, to his last heartbeat. Gilad Israeli RICHARD STRAUSS (1864-1949) D O N J U A N , S Y M P H O N I C P O E M , O P . 2 0 ca. 17 mins.
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