Richard Strauss – His Music, His Muse And His Marriage

This year marks the 150th birth anniversary of Richard Strauss (b June 11, 1864).

Here in Sydney we have just been enthralled by a concert production of his opera Elektra from the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Strauss wrote extensively for the voice, inspired by his wife and muse, soprano Pauline de Ahna, with whom he is said to have had a stormy relationship.

Jessica Duchen takes a closer look in The Independent, as the Royal Opera prepares for its new production of Strauss’ Die Frau ohne Schatten “the most complex, symbolic and magical of his collaborations with the playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal.”