Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks

Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Op 28, is a tone poem for large orchestra by Richard Strauss.

The work in rondo form counts for program music. Premiered the piece on 5 November 1895 under the second subscription concert of the Cologne concert society in Gurzenich to Cologne with the Municipal Gürzenich Orchestra conducted by Franz Wüllner.

Strauss wrote in the spring of 1894 a fragmented libretto about a one-act opera piece titled Till Eulenspiegel at the shield citizens, but which was not completed. So Strauss composed a year later, the symphonic poem Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks; the old rogue manner in rondeau; set for large orchestra. The fair copy he finished on 6 May 1895 in Munich. The piece is dedicated to Dr. Arthur Seidl, the spokesman of the New German School.

The introduction of the work begins contemplative, as if a narrator begin with " Once upon a time ". Subsequently, two different designs are presented which represent Till and be varied in the course of the work. In the course of these variations, the orchestra shows in a variety of colors; why Till Eulenspiegel is often regarded as a masterpiece of instrumentation.

The performance of the work lasts about 15 minutes.

Topics

This motif is played for the first time immediately after the prologue from the Horn and represents Till Eulenspiegel personally. Through the three-eighths held gis what causes the partly filled chromatically rising over a major sixth with each repetition ( it is repeated twice) eighth starts later, the listener loses the meter. In this way, Richard Strauss uses masterfully to the roguish anarchists in notes.

The second motif, Till Eulenspiegel represented as " quiet " version appears already in the prologue. The roguish character gets there, however, only when it is presented by the D clarinet. This is caused by the onset of unaccented beat (second eighth ) and strong contrasts in articulation, dynamics, note values ​​and intervals.

Illustrated scenes

This program has Strauss wrote in his own score, but did not want the listener follows him. On the written request of the conductor Franz Wüllner the program Strauss replied: "It is impossible for me to give a program for Eulenspiegel: In words dressed, what was I thinking at the individual parts would be cursed exclude funny and many cause offense. Do we want this time the little people themselves can crack the nuts, which administered the Schalk them? "