Stran’sky

Josef, Humpolec, Bohemia, Sept. 9, 1872—New York, March 6, 1936; of German parents; studied medicine at first; and then music while at the universities of Vienna, - Leipzig and Prague; début as cond. at Prague Opera, succeeding Muck, later succeeded Mahler at Hamburg; cond. Bliithner orch., Berlin; rozz, succeeded Mahler as cond. N. Y. Philh. Orch., of which he was the succe ful sole leader until 1923; 1923-24, cond. State Symph. Orch., N. Y., then resigning to become a dealer in paintings. (strow’-bé), C., b. Berlin, Jan. 6, 1873; noted organist; pupil of Riemann, Riifer, and A. Becker; (vice C. Piatti); from 1903 he also cond. the Bach Verein there; 1907 organ teacher at Leipzig Cons.; after 1918, Cantor of the Thomas kir che; 1919, merged the B.-Verein with the Choir; led notable Bach Festivals.. Straus (shtrows), Oskar, b. Vienna, April 6, 1870; pupil of Gradener and Max Bruch; cond. theatres in various cities; c. overture “Der Traum ein Leben,” chamber music and many operas, some of them extremely succe ful, ‘Hin Wealzertraum” (Vienna, 1906; London and America as “The Waliz Dream’’); “Der tapfere Soldat” (Vienna, 1908), (“Chocolate Soldier’’), etc. Strau (shtrows), (1) Jos., Brinn, 1793—-Carlsruhe, Dec. 1 (2?), 1866; violinist, mus.-director, ct.-conductor;c. operas. (2) Jn. (Sr.), Vienna, March 14, 1804—(of scarlet fever) Sept. 25, 1849, ‘“‘The Father of the Waltz’; son of proprietor of a beer and dance-hall; conductor and composer of 152 waltzes all more or le famous. (3) Jn. (Jr.), Vienna, Oct. 25, 1825—June 3, 1899; ‘““The Waltz King”; son of above, who opposed the mus. tastes of the three sons, for whom the mother secured secret instruction. In 1844 conductor of succ. orch. concerts. He had c. a waltz at 6, and his later comps. eclipsed the succe of those of his father, after whose death he united the two orchestras. 1862, he m. the singer Henriette Treffz (d. 1878), and later the singer Angelica Dittrich; c. 400 pes. of dance-music; his. waltzes “The Danube,” “ Kiinstlerleben,” ‘Wiener Blut,” “The roor Nights,” “Wine, Women and Song,” etc., are dance-rhapsodies whose verve and colour have deserved and won the highest praise of severe musicians. His light operas rival his waltzes in charm and succ. and incl. the v. succ. “Die Fledermaus” (74). (4) Jos., Vienna, Aug. 22, 1827—July 22, 1870; bro.’ of above, during whose illne in 1853 he served as cond.; later formed an orch. of his own and learned the vIn.; on a tour to Warsaw he was maltreated by Ru ian officers for whom he had refused to play, and died in the arms of his wife (whom he had m. in 1857); he c. 283 dances. ({s) Eduard, Vienna, Feb. 14, 1835 Dec. 28, 1916; bro. and succ. Johann as cond. of the ct.-balls and orch.; took his orch. to America 1892 and rgoo;c. dance-mus. (6) Ludwig, Pre burg, March 28, 1836—Cambridge, Engl., 1899; violinist. (7) Victor von, Royal opera conductor, Berlin, 1902. (8) Richard, b. Munich, 11, 1864; composer; in early life a_ brilliant musical genius; son of (8) Fz. S. (chamber mus. and horn-player); studied also with W. Meyer. At 4 hec.a polka. He took a regular Gymnasium course 1874-82, and spent two years at the univ. 17 his first symph. prod. by Levi; his ‘‘Serenade” for 13 wind-instrs. had much succ. with the Me in in gen orch. under von Billow, to whom §S. became a t., and (1885) succe or as ct.-mus. dir. at Me in in gen; 1886, 3rd cond. at Munich; 1889, ct.-cond. at Weimar | under La en; 1894, cond. at the ct.-opera, Munich, also 1894, cond. Berlin Philh., and from 1898, cond. at Berlin Royal Opera. He m. the soprano, Pauline de Ahna, who created ‘‘Freihilde” in his opera “Guntram” (Weimar, 1894, Munich, ’95).. His 1-act ‘‘Feuersnoth” (‘‘Fire-Famine’’), libretto by Wolzogen, was prod. Dresden, Nov. 21, 1901, with much succe . He has also cond. with great succ. in various ‘cities. A Strau Festival was given in London, 1903, with S. conducting the Amsterdam Orch.; 1904 he was made general musical director of the Berlin Royal Opera. In the same year he cond. in the U.S. C.symph. op. 12; symphonic fantasie ‘“‘Aus It alien,” “Wanderers Sturmlied” (Goethe), for 6-part chorus, and full orch.; tone-poems, “Don Juan,’ op. 20; ‘Macbeth,’ op. 23; “Tod und Verklirung,” op. 24, the symph. poems “Also sprach Zarathustra” (after Nietzsche), “‘Ein Heldenleben” (op. 40), and ‘Don Quixote’; op. 28, Or chester-Rondo “Till Eulenspiegel’s lustige —Streiche”’; chamber-mus.; vln.-concerto; 5 “‘Stimmungsbilder’?’ for pf.; concerto for Waldhorn; “Enoch Arden,’ melodrama for pf. and recitation, and many songs. 16-part a@ cappella “Der Abend” (1902), ballad for chorus and orch. “Tuiliefer” (1902); “Sinfonia Domes.ica”’ (1904); operas “Salomé” (1 act after Oscar Wilde, Dresden, t905, and throughout Europe; prod. at Met. Op., 1907; it was withdrawn after one performance but restored 1934 with succ.); “Elektra” (Dresden, 1909, and at Manhattan Op.,. Y., 1910); “Der Rosenkavalier’’ (Dresden, June 26, 1911, and at Met. Op., 1913); “Ariadne.auf Naxos” (Stuttgart, Oct. 25, 1912, revised 1917); “Die Frau ohne Schatten’ (1921); “Intermezzo” (1924, a work said to be based on a mild marital misunderstanding in his own career); “Die A egypt is che Helena’ (Dresden, 1928, also at Met. Op. House, without succ.); “Arabella” (1933, comedy which uses waltz thernes somewhat in manner of ‘Rosenkavalier’ but not as strong as that world-conquering work); ‘Die Schweigsame Frau’? (1933); the ballets “Josephslegende”’ (1914) and “‘Schlagobers” (“Whipped Cream,” of pastry shop, 1923). Also a pf.-concerto for the left hand, “Parergon zur Sinfonia Domestic a und Pan a then a een-zug,” written for Paul Wittgenstein. last important orch. work was the rather weak “Alp ens info nie” (1915), a literal description in tone of a climb to the mountain summits. His later works have tended to revert to a greater simplicity in scoring, some, like his incidental music to “‘Der Birger als Edelmann,” influence. post-war works have displayed a decline in invention, though his scoring wizardry is still in evidence. S. made a notable tour of the U. S. in 1921, when he led a cycle of his works in N. Y. with the Phila. Orch.; cond. in many Eur. cities; to1g-24, dir. with Schalk of the Vienna Op.; 1933-35, he was pres. of the Reich Music Chamber in Germany; in 1938 a t-act opera, “‘Fri eden stag,”’ was prem iéred at the Munich State Op.; and “‘Daphne,” at Dresden Op., 1938. Biographical works by Seidl, Klatte, Hutschenruijter, Brecher, Urban, Bie, Newman, Steinitzer, Finck, Walt ers hausen, and studies of his comps. by Gilman, Hutches on, Rose and Pruewer, Schattmann, etc. S. Berlioz’s treatise on instrumentation. (See article, page 529.) (str i-vén’-ské), Igor, b. Oranienbaum, Ru ia, June 17, 1882; composer; one of most technical innovators of his period, a remarkable craftsman and_ highly influential upon other composers; studied comp. with Rimsky-Korsakoff, in whose memory he wrote a “Chant Funébre” and also his early symph. piece, “Fireworks,” for the wedding of the latter’s daughter; his first productions were marked by original and highly _ brilliant impre ionistic use of orch. color, exploiting strange timbres and instrumental effects, and drew upon Ru ian folklore, esp. for“his pop. de Few” ‘“L’Oiseau “‘Petrouchka,” which created much “Le prod. by Diaghileff. Printemps” (1913), the strident and bizarre effects that made ‘“‘Petrouchka” a masterpiece of bitter irony were augmented with an unprecedented complexity of rhythm and harsh, grinding di onances which literally portrayed the earth-beating dances of a prehistoric race in a spring fest.; to this period belongs also his Chinese fairy opera, “‘Le Ro ignol,” delicately dis sonantal based on an Andersen story, which was given by the Met. Op. Co., 1926. After “Les Noces,” written as a “symphony” but prod. as a ballet which portrays Ru ian wedding customs of the past with salty gusto, the style of S. became progre ively more reticent and also economical His ironic “ His to ire du of means. Soldat” with a chamber ensemble and narrator, has been danced and also presented in concert form; his “Renard,” a sort of animal. fable in chamber is also marked instruments, opera, wit; “Maura,” oddly echoes (with intent) styles. The tendency to compose in the manner of earlier creators a erts itself increasingly in his later works, which has been construed as symptomatic of his attempt to find new paths, but by others as a confe ion of lack of inspiration. Beginning with his post-war productions, his music is increasingly neo-cla ic in style. takes the form of compositions for combinations, small instrumental for various solo instruments with orch. and in concertante form, which embody his strivings after an ideal of “pure music,” in which emotion and overemphasis are sternly restricted. Parallel to this, S. has shown a fondne for antique subjects and Greek myths, treated in heroic manner and in_neo-cla ic garb: such are his ‘Oedipus Rex,” a dram. cantata for soloists, male chorus, narrator and. orch. (prod. in Paris, N. Y. and elsewhere); his “Symphonie de Psaumes’’ for chorus and orch., settings of 3 Hebrew psalms stre ing warlike spirit in austere fashion; ‘“‘A poll on Musagéte”’ for orch.; and ‘‘Perséphone,” a mimetic cantata based on the Greek myth, in which a woman mime-reciter, tenor, orch. take part (given in concert form by the Boston Symph., under the composer); has also c. (ballets) “ Pulcinella”’ (after Per goles i), <“Batser, de, la. Fée”. and, “Les Abeilles”’; (orch.) ‘‘Scherzo Fantast i que,”’ a symphony; suites based upon his most pop. ballet scores; “Te Ro ignol” (symph. poem); “Symphonie Concertante’ Octuor for wind instruments; Concertino; a Concerto and a Capriccio for piano and orch.; two-piano concerto; vin. concerto; ‘“‘Duo Concertante” for piano and vln., and many other smaller pieces for piano and other instruments, also songs. S. has visited the U. S. several times as guest cond. of various orchs., incl. N. Y. Philh., Phila., Boston, Chicago and elsewhere. Soon after the war he took up res. in France and has become a citizen of that country. He has toured with Samuel Dushkin, violinist, and with his son, Soulima Stravinsky, pianist, in chamber programmes; has visited leading Eur. cities and S. A. as a guest cond.; Eliot Chair of Poetry, Harvard, 1940. S. has published a book of remimiscences, as well as various ‘“‘manifestos” and the like, setting forth his artistic ideals. A biography (in French) by André Schaeffner was pub. 1931. A large number of e ays on the composer and his work have been i ued, by Van Vechten, Wise, Montagu-Nathan, Boris de Schloezer and. others. Edwin Evans has written a study of his “Firebird” and “‘ Petrouchka.” (See article, page 530.). Streabbog. Vide GOBBAERTS.