Monday Musicale with the Maestro – January 4, 2021 – Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen as Lament and Atonement

Dear friends-

Happy New Year!  My best wishes go out to you for a happy and very healthy New Year.

For this week’s installment, I invite you to read an article I’ve recently published on the Classical Voice of North Carolina, Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen as a Contextual Memorial/Eulogy for 2020

In brief, my article is related to the controversy over Richard Strauss’ staying in Nazi Germany during the Third Reich to help maintain the musical arts during what he called “the most terrible period in human history in mankind.” He despised the Nazis and never joined the Nazi party. And because of this, his life and his family’s lives (which included a Jewish daughter-in-law and two half-Jewish grandsons) were always in danger during the last eight years of the Third Reich.  In early 1945, when the war was obviously lost, Strauss wrote a work for string orchestra which he titled Metamorphosen (changes or transformations.) This profound masterpiece has been seen by many as his apology for being involved with the Nazi regime, and it clearly reflects his despair at seeing his country and its culture in ruins.

These photos of Richard Strauss were not included in my article about Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen, but I think you will enjoy seeing them after you have read the article. 

Richard Strauss (ca. mid-1930s)

Richard Strauss with Adolf Hitler

Richard Strauss with Joseph Goebbels (Reich Minister of Propaganda)

The next three photos are from the private collection of Maestro Tonu Kalam. Tonu is a longtime friend of mine and is currently the conductor of the UNC-Chapel Hill Orchestra. His father, Endel Kalam, was born in Estonia, and some of the highlights of his musical life included studying with Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood, playing viola for the Marlboro Music Festival, and being the founder and conductor of the New England Chamber Orchestra.  Here is a picture of him (top row, third from left) with the conducting class at Salzburg’s famed Mozarteum.

          Endel Kalam with Mozarteum conducting class, August 1943

The next two photos were taken by Endel at the Salzburg Music Festival during the summer of 1943. They have never appeared in any book or any publication before, and I am greatly indebted to Tonu Kalam for allowing us to post these. The big event during that festival was the world premiere of Richard Strauss’ 2nd Horn Concerto. The composer himself attended the rehearsals and performances.

This first picture is of Strauss walking with the main conducting teacher, Hans Swarowsky, at the Mozarteum.

The next photo, from August 1943, contains a tantalizing mystery. Look closely at the glowering man to Strauss’ left. Three years ago, when I first saw Strauss’ picture with this unidentified man, I felt that surely this incredibly intense and authoritative person must be a high-ranking official or prominent figure in the Third Reich.   

Richard Strauss and….?

I now believe that this person is Albert Speer (Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production)

Here is a closeup of that same photo.

And here are a few pictures of Speer from around that time. 

I am consulting some people now to see if my speculation that this is Speer is correct. Speer is one of the most fascinating people in Hitler’s inner circle, and I will be writing more about him in the coming days.

Finally, here is a photo of the happily married Pauline and Richard Strauss. His love for her inspired some of his greatest pieces.

William Henry Curry
Music Director
Durham Symphony Orchestra

Comprehensive Editor (Text): Suzanne Bolt
Copy Editors: Marianne Ward and Tina Biello
Digital Layout and Publication: Tina Biello and Marianne Ward

Celebrating Maestro Curry’s 50 years conducting
& 11 years with the Durham Symphony!

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Funding is provided (in part) by the Durham Arts Council’s Annual Arts Fund, the N.C. Arts Council (a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources), and a grant from the Triangle Community Foundation.