Richard Strauss was a German composer known for his operas, tone poems, and instrumental works. His Horn Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 11 was originally written for his father, a horn player, but proved too difficult so was premiered by Gustav Leinhos. The three-movement concerto is considered one of the most challenging works for horn, making extensive use of the instrument's range and rhythmic figures. It reflects the romantic style of the time with connected themes between movements and prominent roles for both the solo horn and full orchestra.
Richard Strauss was a German composer known for his operas, tone poems, and instrumental works. His Horn Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 11 was originally written for his father, a horn player, but proved too difficult so was premiered by Gustav Leinhos. The three-movement concerto is considered one of the most challenging works for horn, making extensive use of the instrument's range and rhythmic figures. It reflects the romantic style of the time with connected themes between movements and prominent roles for both the solo horn and full orchestra.
Richard Strauss was a German composer known for his operas, tone poems, and instrumental works. His Horn Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 11 was originally written for his father, a horn player, but proved too difficult so was premiered by Gustav Leinhos. The three-movement concerto is considered one of the most challenging works for horn, making extensive use of the instrument's range and rhythmic figures. It reflects the romantic style of the time with connected themes between movements and prominent roles for both the solo horn and full orchestra.
Richard Strauss was a German composer known for his operas, tone poems, and instrumental works. His Horn Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 11 was originally written for his father, a horn player, but proved too difficult so was premiered by Gustav Leinhos. The three-movement concerto is considered one of the most challenging works for horn, making extensive use of the instrument's range and rhythmic figures. It reflects the romantic style of the time with connected themes between movements and prominent roles for both the solo horn and full orchestra.
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Lovell Tufts
12/3/2015 Mus 231
Horn Concerto no. 1 in E-flat Major, opus 11
by Richard Strauss 1)
Composer
Richard Strauss (1864- 1949) was a German born romantic composer
as well as a conductor. He is originally from Munich and learned most of what he knew about music from his father Franz Strauss, who was the principal horn player for the Munich Court Opera. He was also trained in violin at the Royal School of music by Benno Walter. His musical tastes and opinions were strongly influenced by his father. He then became the assistant conductor for Hans van Bulow in Berlin. Once Bulow resigned, Strauss became the conductor of the Meiningen Court Orchestra. His conducting career then continued throughout Germany and Austria. Strauss was also a very well know composer during his life. He was most well-known for his operas, choral works, tone poems and other instrumental works. He wrote many works for solo instruments and orchestra. The most notable of these are his two horn concertos, a violin concerto in D major, and his tone poem Don Quixote. He also was a composer of many opera which include Die Frau ohne Schatten and Salome.
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Composition
Strauss Horn Concerto no. 1 in E-flat Major, opus 11 is a three movement
piece written for horn and orchestra. It was first premiered in 1885 at Meiningen. It was originally supposed to be premiered by his father Franz, but the piece proved to be too difficult for him so he deferred the opportunity to Gustav Leinhos. It was the first major work that he wrote for horn. It is comprised of three movements that are typically preformed without a break between movements. It is considered one of the more demanding works for horn. The piece in its entirety lasts about 16 minutes.
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Historic Perspective
This piece was composed around 1883 which is during a time where romanticism was in style. Strauss used many of the ideas of other composers of the romantic period in this concerto specifically Mendelssohn. One main features of some of Mendelssohns concertos that can be seen in this horn concerto is the near immediate entrance of the
solo instrument. Another that you can see is that all of the movements are connected melodically and harmonically and played attacca which wasnt really done before the romantic period.
4)
Technical Considerations
This piece is considered one of the more challenging pieces for horn. This is mostly due to the consistent arpeggiation and leaps in the piece. The piece also uses a majority of the instruments range. The lowest note in the piece is D2 while the highest note is Bb5. This piece consistently uses the dotted eighth sixteenth rhythm throughout the piece as well. In the second movement there are also a few key changes.
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Stylistic Considerations
The first movement of the piece has a strong, bold, heroic type of feel. The horn almost resembles a hunting call in the main theme of this of the piece. It is in a rondo like form. The brass and tympani are more prominent in this movement. The second movement is more flowing and gentler than the first as well as about half the tempo. Besides the soloist, the third movement features the woodwind and the strings more. The third movement is in a march like style. It features more elaborate versions of the main theme of the piece and has a more intense feel compared to the first movement.
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Musical Elements
In this piece the soloist typically has the main melody and the orchestra builds off the melody after it has been set by the soloist. The majority of the piece is in E-flat although there are sections in the second movement that are in other keys. The dotted eighth sixteenth rhythm is prominent throughout the entire piece.
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Form and Structure
Movement 1 Measures 1-6 (Intro) o A single chord is played by the orchestra o Main theme is introduced in solo line Measures 7-28(A section) o Main theme expanded upon by the full orchestra o Starts in a minor then switches to major tonality o Soloist does not play Measures 29-64 (B section) o Flowing melody in the solo line o Steady eighth notes in the orchestra o Main theme of the B section is introduced in measures 29-35
This theme is repeated measures 36-46 (has slightly
different ending) o Measures 47-64 has different melodic content and leads the piece back to a variation of the A section Measures 64-75 (A) o Return of the main theme o Leads into C section Measures 76-107 (C section) o Measures 76-83 is a minor version of the main theme played by the soloist o Measures 84-99 is the main idea of the C section This idea is repeated measures 100-107 with some added ornamentation Measures 108-124 (section D) It is based heavily off of triplets Lots of arpeggiated chords within the passage Measures 125-130 (A) o Return of a similar melodic passage in solo part (last time the soloist plays in the movement Measures 131-147 (D) o Return of D section melody played in the full orchestra Some ornaments are added Measures 145- end (A section and lead into next movement)
8)
Suggested Listening
Strauss Horn Concerto no 2
Strauss Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor, Op. 8 Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 Franz Strauss Horn Concerto in C minor, op. 8
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Additional Recourses and References
"Horn Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major". Encyclopdia Britannica.
Encyclopdia Britannica Online. Encyclopdia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 02 Dec. 2015 <http://www.britannica.com/topic/Horn-Concerto-No-1-in-E-flat-Major>. "Richard Strauss". Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica Online. Encyclopdia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 02 Dec. 2015 <http://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Strauss>.
