Richard Strauss's 85 years of life spanned a revolution in Germany from 1864 when the nation did not exist to 1949. A nationalist but also a humanist, he believed in culture as `moral exoneration' and chose to remain in Nazi Germany and serve the Third Reich. Matthew Boyden examines for the first time Strauss's behaviour under Nazism, and assesses the incongruity of a seemingly crude character and the unfailing beauty and articulation of his music. A product of his age, an astounding talent and a man adept at concealing ...
Read More
Richard Strauss's 85 years of life spanned a revolution in Germany from 1864 when the nation did not exist to 1949. A nationalist but also a humanist, he believed in culture as `moral exoneration' and chose to remain in Nazi Germany and serve the Third Reich. Matthew Boyden examines for the first time Strauss's behaviour under Nazism, and assesses the incongruity of a seemingly crude character and the unfailing beauty and articulation of his music. A product of his age, an astounding talent and a man adept at concealing himself, Strauss only properly revealed his nature during the last twenty years of his life, when the pressures became both unbearable and unavoidable. This is the first detailed study of that nature.
Read Less
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good jacket. First Edition. A very good first edition hardcover in a very good dust jacket. No markings. Appears to be unread. Pasadena's finest new and used bookstore since 1992.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Supports Goodwill of Silicon Valley job training programs. The cover and pages are in very good condition! The cover and any other included accessories are also in very good condition showing some minor use. The spine is straight there are no rips tears or creases on the cover or the pages.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Near Fine in Near Fine jacket. 1999, First UK Edition. 431 pp. Hardcover, illustrated. Previous owner's signature on the front pastedown, otherwise Near Fine copy in a Near Fine dust jacket.
This biography of Strauss, is one of the few which examines Strauass' relations with the Nazi Regime, as well as discussing Strauss' position in the classical music world during the middle of the twentieth century. Although Strauss' reputation is deserved as a creative artist, opera producer, composer, conductor, and in partucular in his progerssive development of orchestration, in this book, his charachter as a man does not particularly shine. Boydon shows that at a time, when may artists both Jewish and Gentile were fleeing the country, (such as Serkin) Strauss preferred to stay and hinge his success on his affilliation with the party. Whether one belives that Strauss was personally anti-semitic or not, the work provides many insights into the life and actions of the composer. As such, it is certainly more of a policital biography rather that musical, and can be ceommended, despite the clear slant of the author.