Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. Renée Fleming. Jessye Norman. They All Sing: Richard Strauss’ “Four Last Songs”. Utterly Unforgettable.

Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949).

Artist: Max Liebermann.

Date: 1918.

Collection: Alte Nationalgalerie.

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Richard Georg Strauss (11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German Composer and Conductor known for his tone poems and operas. 

A leading figure of the Late-Romantic and Early-Modern era, and a successor to Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt,[1] he combined, along with his friend Gustav Mahler, subtleties of orchestration with an advanced harmonic style.

From May to September 1948, just before his death, Strauss composed “Four Last Songs”, which deal with the subject of dying. 

The last one, “Im Abendrot” (“At Sunset”), ends with the line “Is this perhaps death ?” 

The question is not answered in words, but, instead, Strauss quotes the “Transfiguration Theme” from his earlier Tone Poem “Death and Transfiguration”— meant to symbolise the Transfiguration and fulfilment of the Soul after death.

In June 1948, he was cleared of any wrong-doing by a “De-Nazification” Tribunal in Munich.[1] 

That same month, he orchestrated “Ruhe, meine Seele !” (“Peace, My Soul”), a song that he had originally composed in 1894.[1]

“Four Last Songs”.

Composer: Richard Strauss.

Sung By: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.

Available On YouTube

HERE

“Four Last Songs”.

Composer: Richard Strauss.

Sung By: Renée Fleming.

Available On YouTube

HERE

“Four Last Songs”.

Composer: Richard Strauss.

Sung By: Jessye Norman.

Available On YouTube

HERE