Richard Strauss

One of Germany's most successful and popular composers, Richard Strauss (1864-1949) enjoyed huge celebrity, vast wealth, and unequaled adulation during his lifetime. His masterful tone poems and operas, including Der Rosenkavalier, Salome, and Elektra, form a musical legacy that endures today. Yet Strauss was an enigmatic figure-an artistic genius who was consumed with a passion to protect the prosperity and security of his own interests.

In this intriguing biography, Matthew Boyden unveils the man behind the music, painting in masterful fashion a portrait of Strauss's life and work against the backdrop of his culture and turbulent times. Boyden examines his upbringing, his education, the influence of his domineering father and other mentors, and his loving but tempestuous relationship with his wife, soprano Pauline de Ahna.

This compelling volume provides a frank discussion of his open anti-Semitism at the Bayreuth Festival and delves into his active and willing collaboration with Adolph Hitler and the Nazi regime, fully exploring why and in which ways Strauss allied himself with the Third Reich.