A Study Of Richard Strauss' Symphonic Poems

Richard Strauss is one of the most important composers in the late Romantic period. His symphonic poems let him become an influential figure in the field of symphonic poem after Liszt. His descriptive symphonic poems, especially, containing vivid and life-like depiction of musical character, establish a distinct "Strauss style", which marks a unique chapter in the development of symphonic poems. The style significantly influences the composition of his other type of symphonic poems and operas. Therefore, the study of the "musical character" in Strauss' descriptive symphonic poems is the key to understand his musical style, from which we can find some characteristics of late Romantic music.This thesis concentrates on Strauss' three important works of different periods—Don Juan, Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche and Don Quixotte, and studies, from the angles of artistic design and compositional process, the musical characters in his descriptive symphonic poems in terms of musical themes, orchestration, harmonic language, and formal structure with interpreting literary programs. The first part of the thesis analyzes the features of the musical characters in the symphonic poems. The second part is a detailed study of these three works, dealing with various musical devices employed by Strauss in his character depiction, and exploring the characteristics of the symphonic poems of different periods. The third part, based on a musical analysis, tries to sum up the Strauss' devices in depicting the musical characters in his compositions.It is worthy to note that Strauss employs individual compositional process—to center on the depiction of the musical character, with appropriate musical languages and expression revolving the development of character personality. For Strauss, it is the musical character that reaches an artistic combination of music and drama. While inheriting musical Romanticism, Strauss is bold in employing new musical devices to form the musical characters, promoting the genre of symphonic poem to a new artistic level.