Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Part I Background
- Part II Works
- Part III Perspectives
- 11 Strauss's place in the twentieth century
- 12 Musical quotations and allusions in the works of Richard Strauss
- 13 Strauss in the Third Reich
- 14 Strauss and the business of music
- 15 Kapellmeister Strauss
- 16 Strauss and the sexual body: the erotics of humor, philosophy, and ego-assertion
- 17 Strauss and the nature of music
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Index
12 - Musical quotations and allusions in the works of Richard Strauss
from Part III - Perspectives
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 September 2011
- Frontmatter
- Part I Background
- Part II Works
- Part III Perspectives
- 11 Strauss's place in the twentieth century
- 12 Musical quotations and allusions in the works of Richard Strauss
- 13 Strauss in the Third Reich
- 14 Strauss and the business of music
- 15 Kapellmeister Strauss
- 16 Strauss and the sexual body: the erotics of humor, philosophy, and ego-assertion
- 17 Strauss and the nature of music
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Index
Summary
I have no taste for philologists’ reminiscence-hunts.
richard strauss (1944)Introduction and overview
Appropriation of pre-existing music and melodies, whether from one's own compositions or those of other composers, is as old as polyphonic music itself. We may think, for instance, of the cantus-firmus masses of the sixteenth century, in which composers built a polyphonic web above a borrowed melody; or of variation works from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, in which melodic and harmonic transformations of a theme produce an independent work. In recent history, musical borrowing has occurred most often in the form of quotations or reminiscences – a practice in which, as Roland Tenschert has observed, the musical quotation has the same function as a quotation in language.
It does not matter, in principle, whether the materials come from the works of other masters or from one's own compositions. The mere fact that something is “quoted” establishes the particular appeal and, occasionally, also results in a humorous punch line. Since this appeal is lacking when the context is not recognized, knowing the quotation is a condition for the intended effect.
If the effect is thus limited to the small number of listeners who possess a comprehensive musical knowledge, it nonetheless holds a special appeal, even for Richard Strauss, in spite of the dim view he expressed in the motto cited above. (The negative tone stemmed from the displeasure he felt when Willi Schuh called his attention to an inadvertent quotation in one of his works.)
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- Information
- The Cambridge Companion to Richard Strauss , pp. 213 - 225Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
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