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in its mood and consistent in its structure …
this is only possible through the inspiration of
a poetical idea, whether or not it be introduced
as a program. I consider it a legitimate artistic
method to create a correspondingly new form
for every new subject.”
e program to Strauss’s orchestral
Don Juan
contains three passages from the poem by Niko-
laus Lenau, a work le incomplete by the poet’s
death in
. ese lines deal not with speci c
erotic conquests, but more with the psycholog-
ical transformation of the hero/villain. e rst
two excerpts come early in Lenau’s poem, while
the third appears near the end.
at magic circle, immeasurably wide,
of beautiful femininity with their multiple
attractions,
I want to traverse in a storm of pleasure,
and die of a kiss upon the lips of the last woman.
My friend, I want to y through all places
where a beautiful woman blooms, kneel before
each one of them
and conquer, if only for a few moments.
• • • • •
I shun satiety and the weariness of pleasure,
and keep myself fresh in the service of the
beautiful;
hurting the individual woman, I adore the whole
species.
e breath of a woman, which is the fragrance of
spring to me today,
tomorrow may oppress me like the air of a
dungeon.
When I wander with my changing a ections
in the broad circle of beautiful women,
my love for each one is di erent;
I do not wish to build temples out of ruins.
Yes! Passion must be new each time;
it cannot be transferred from one woman to the
next,
it can only die in one place and arise once more
in another;
and if it recognizes itself for what it is, it knows
nothing of repentance.
Just as every beauty is unique in the world,
so also is the love to which it gives pleasure.
Out, then, and away a er ever new victories
as long as the ery ardors of youth still soar!
• • • • •
It was a beautiful storm that drove me on;
it has subsided and a calm has remained behind.
All my desires and hopes are in suspended
animation;
perhaps a lightning bolt, from heights that I
contemned,
mortally struck my amorous powers,
and suddenly my world became deserted and
benighted.
And yet, perhaps not—the fuel is consumed
and the hearth has become cold and dark.
As represented in the German poet’s verse,
Don Juan is neither the unrepentant libertine
of the Mozart/Da Ponte opera
Don Giovanni
( ) nor the bored, compulsive womanizer
of George Bernard Shaw’s “Don Juan in Hell”
episode in the play
Man and Superman
(
).
Both chronologically and psychologically,
Lenau’s portrayal falls somewhere between the
two. Strauss quoted passages concerned with the
inner impulse driving Don Juan to such notori-
ous libidinous acts, not the speci c events them-
selves. He pursued women with almost religious
zeal, paying homage to and nding new passion
for each. In the end, faded passion le Don Juan
empty and alone.
Reconciling Lenau’s introspective verses with
the clearly delineated, extroverted personalities
in Strauss’s music, though, has resulted in nu-
merous and extremely varied interpretations.
e opening musical segment explodes with
heroic energy, which many have identi ed with
the impulsive Don Juan.
is material returns
several times like an orchestral refrain. Between
these valiant episodes, Strauss interjects tender
interludes. Some authors have suggested these
lyrical segments represent three of the Don’s fe-
male conquests. e tone poem concludes with
a coda in which quiet chords descend slowly,
ending with a series of pizzicatos. Many inter-
preters, disregarding the emotional denoue-
ment in the nal Lenau quotation, imagine Don
Juan’s suicide-death in the duel with Don Pedro.
Strauss, Lenau, and other artists who have con-
fronted the highly complex gure of Don Juan
might actually have relished these ambiguities.
EDVARD GRIEG (1843–1907)
Piano Concerto in A minor, op.
Scored for two utes, two oboes, two clarinets, two
bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones,
timpani, strings, and solo piano
Grieg required absolute solitude in order to
compose during his summer vacations: “To
have the ability to withdraw into oneself and
forget
everything
around one when one is cre-
ating. at, I think, is the only requirement for
being able to bring forth something beautiful.
e whole thing is … a mystery.” Conducting
engagements during the
– concert sea-
son in Oslo— rst with the Philharmonic Soci-
ety, which soon folded, and then with his own,
newly formed ensemble—had exhausted Grieg.
e Grieg household has also enlarged by one
on April ,
, with the birth of a daughter,
Alexandra. Realizing the impossibility of work-
ing under these conditions, the Griegs moved to
Denmark for the summer—Nina and the baby
staying with her parents in Copenhagen, and
Edvard retiring alone to Sölleröd.
e Piano Concerto in A minor began to ma-
terialize in Sölleröd. Finishing touches on the
orchestration were made a er the family’s re-
turn to Oslo. Grieg was unable to attend the
premiere, but all correspondence from Copen-
hagen reported a triumphant success. Edmund
Neupert, the work’s dedicatee, gave the rst per-
formance in Copenhagen on April ,
, with
conductor Holger Simon Paulli and the Royal
eater Orchestra. Neupert reported with pride
that the “three dangerous critics—[Niels] Gade,
[Anton] Rubinstein, and [Johan Peter Emilius]
Hartmann—sat up in their loge and applauded
with all their might.”
Grieg’s nal triumph with the Piano Concerto
occurred while visiting Franz Liszt, then living
in Rome, in
. Liszt, who had been favor-
ably impressed by Grieg’s Violin Sonata No. ,
encouraged the young Norwegian to play his
most recent creation, the Piano Concerto. An
amazed Grieg described the ensuing scene in
a letter to his parents (April ,
): “[August]
Winding and I were very eager to see whether
he [Liszt] would really sight-read my concerto.
I personally considered it impossible. Liszt, on
the other hand, was of an entirely di erent opin-
ion. He said to me, ‘Would you like to play it?’
I hastened to say that I couldn’t! Liszt then took
the manuscript, went to the piano and, with a
smile peculiar to himself, said to all those who
were present, ‘Well, now I’ll show you that I can’t
either.’
en he began. And in view of what he
now achieved, I must say that it would be impos-
sible to imagine anything of the kind that would
be more sublime. He played the rst part rather
1LNRODXV LHQDX E\ )ULHGULFK APHUOLQJ
Edvard Grieg
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