Strauss was born on 11 June 1864 in Munich , the son of Franz Strauss, who was the principal horn player at the Court Opera in Munich. In his youth, he received a thorough musical education from his father. He wrote his first composition at the age of six, and continued to write music almost until his death.
During his boyhood Strauss attended orchestra rehearsals of the Munich Court Orchestra, and he also received private instruction in music theory and orchestration from an assistant conductor there. In 1872 he started receiving violin instruction at the Royal School of Music from Benno Walter, his father's cousin. In 1874 Strauss heard his first Wagner operas, Lohengrin and Tannhäuser. The influence of Wagner's music on Strauss's style was to be profound, but at first his musically conservative father forbade him to study it. Indeed, in the Strauss household, the music of Richard Wagner was viewed with deep suspicion, and it was not until the age of 16 that Strauss was able to obtain a score of Tristan und Isolde. In later life, Strauss said that he deeply regretted the conservative hostility to Wagner's progressive works] Nevertheless, Strauss's father undoubtedly had a crucial influence on his son's developing taste, not least in Strauss's abiding love for the horn.
In early 1882 in Vienna he gave the first performance of his Violin Concerto in D minor, playing a piano reduction of the orchestral part himself, with his teacher and "cousin" Benno Walter as soloist. The same year he entered Munich University, where he studied Philosophy and Art History, but not music. He left a year later to go to Berlin, where he studied briefly before securing a post as assistant conductor to Hans von Bülow, who had been enormously impressed by the young composer's Serenade for wind instruments, composed when he was only 16 years of age. Strauss learned the art of conducting by observing Bülow in rehearsal. Bülow was very fond of the young man and decided that Strauss should be his successor as conductor of the Meiningen orchestra when Bülow resigned in 1885. Strauss's compositions at this time were indebted to the style of Robert Schumann or Felix Mendelssohn, true to his father's teachings. His Horn Concerto No. 1, Op. 11, is representative of this period and is a staple of modern horn repitorie. Richard Strauss was an conductor from 1889 unto 1894. He was an conductor in Gaethe's Weimar. Important conducting duties awaited him{ he conducted Tannhauser, Lohengrin and Tristan with an orchestra less than fully strength on ocassion }, and shortly after taking up the post he conducted the first performance of his Don Juan . His fame as a composer grew with the first performances of Tod und Verklarung ( Eduard Hanslick wrote: The nature of his talent points the way to the music drama) and Macbeth. His reputation as a conductor was also increasing with his period as a conductor.Strauss was an natural vocal composer and in the time before his major operatic
sucess he regularly wrote songs as something akin to an artistic break from the
symphonic poems. Richard Strauss works were well-Known in Mainingan. When the 21
- year old Richard Strauss took up the past court conductor in October 1865.
Bulow had developed the Meininsen ensembe to an excellent orchestra . Strauss
was responsible for orchestra rehearsals and cocerts as well as conducting the
choir , giving Princess Marie von Sachsen -Meiningen musicx lessons and also
appearing as a planist. Strauss acquired invaluable pratical knowledge.
During his boyhood Strauss attended orchestra rehearsals of the Munich Court Orchestra, and he also received private instruction in music theory and orchestration from an assistant conductor there. In 1872 he started receiving violin instruction at the Royal School of Music from Benno Walter, his father's cousin. In 1874 Strauss heard his first Wagner operas, Lohengrin and Tannhäuser. The influence of Wagner's music on Strauss's style was to be profound, but at first his musically conservative father forbade him to study it. Indeed, in the Strauss household, the music of Richard Wagner was viewed with deep suspicion, and it was not until the age of 16 that Strauss was able to obtain a score of Tristan und Isolde. In later life, Strauss said that he deeply regretted the conservative hostility to Wagner's progressive works] Nevertheless, Strauss's father undoubtedly had a crucial influence on his son's developing taste, not least in Strauss's abiding love for the horn.
In early 1882 in Vienna he gave the first performance of his Violin Concerto in D minor, playing a piano reduction of the orchestral part himself, with his teacher and "cousin" Benno Walter as soloist. The same year he entered Munich University, where he studied Philosophy and Art History, but not music. He left a year later to go to Berlin, where he studied briefly before securing a post as assistant conductor to Hans von Bülow, who had been enormously impressed by the young composer's Serenade for wind instruments, composed when he was only 16 years of age. Strauss learned the art of conducting by observing Bülow in rehearsal. Bülow was very fond of the young man and decided that Strauss should be his successor as conductor of the Meiningen orchestra when Bülow resigned in 1885. Strauss's compositions at this time were indebted to the style of Robert Schumann or Felix Mendelssohn, true to his father's teachings. His Horn Concerto No. 1, Op. 11, is representative of this period and is a staple of modern horn repitorie. Richard Strauss was an conductor from 1889 unto 1894. He was an conductor in Gaethe's Weimar. Important conducting duties awaited him{ he conducted Tannhauser, Lohengrin and Tristan with an orchestra less than fully strength on ocassion }, and shortly after taking up the post he conducted the first performance of his Don Juan . His fame as a composer grew with the first performances of Tod und Verklarung ( Eduard Hanslick wrote: The nature of his talent points the way to the music drama) and Macbeth. His reputation as a conductor was also increasing with his period as a conductor.Strauss was an natural vocal composer and in the time before his major operatic
sucess he regularly wrote songs as something akin to an artistic break from the
symphonic poems. Richard Strauss works were well-Known in Mainingan. When the 21
- year old Richard Strauss took up the past court conductor in October 1865.
Bulow had developed the Meininsen ensembe to an excellent orchestra . Strauss
was responsible for orchestra rehearsals and cocerts as well as conducting the
choir , giving Princess Marie von Sachsen -Meiningen musicx lessons and also
appearing as a planist. Strauss acquired invaluable pratical knowledge.