Richard Strauss, "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks"

The German Rogue

Till Eulenspiegel is a character from German folklore, a rogue who, unlike his Latin congeners, seems to have really existed. It is said that he was born around 1300, growing up in contact with the lower classes of German feudal society. A tireless globetrotter, he traveled throughout the Holy Roman Empire, mocking everyone, kings or vassals. Sentenced to death on more than one occasion, he would have escaped them all to finally die because of the Bubonic Plague that ravaged Europe during the 14th century.

The stories of Till's adventures became legendary. In 1890 a new, beautifully illustrated account of his adventures appeared, which caught the attention of a young Richard Strauss, only twenty-five years old.

The young Richard had been appointed assistant conductor of the Munich opera at the age of twenty-two, and in the early 1890s, he was in Weimar as conductor of the Weimar Theater. And only recently, in 1889, he had premiered his first great masterpiece, the symphonic poem Don Juan, hailed by audiences and critics alike in Weimar, and later the world.

But, in the case of Till, his first idea was to make him the hero of an opera. He went so far as to write a libretto: the stories were at hand.

Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949)

But he soon abandoned the idea, perhaps moved by the success of Don Juan, opting for the composition of a purely instrumental symphonic poem, which would tell the story, the adventures of Till, in music, which did not seem at all simple if we remember that the most common amusement of the German rogue was to pretend not to understand what is spoken to him, taking literally the figurative expressions of his interlocutor, to make fun of him.

But the decision was a happy one. Written for a large orchestra between 1894 and 1895, the work had its premiere and warm reception on November 5, 1896, in Cologne.

"Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks", tone poem, opus 28
The structure of the work is generally based on the rondo form. The central theme goes with Till's personality, and his adventures as episodes that appear between one and another repetition of the central theme, or the other themes. The clarinet, alternating with the horn, represents Till Eulenspiegel.

Lasting approximately fifteen minutes, Till's antics, told in music, unfold according to the following steps: Introducing the character / Till's antics / The trial / Sentence and execution / Epilogue.

As we can appreciate, the German antics end badly.

The version is by the WDR Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Semyon Bychkov.