"DOMESTIC SYMPHONY": Op. 53
In the course of an interview published in London in 1902, Strauss made this announcement: "My next tone-poem will illustrate 'a day in my family life.' It will be partly lyrical, partly humorous—a triple fugue, the three subjects representing papa, mamma, and the baby." The Symphonia Domestica, composed in 1903, was published in 1904. The first performance anywhere was at Carnegie Hall, New York, March 21, 1904.
The symphony, which bears this dedication: Meiner lieben Frau und unserm Jungen gewidmet ("Dedicated to my dear Wife and our Boy"), is in one movement and three subdivisions: (1) Introduction and Scherzo; (2) Adagio; (3) Double Fugue and Finale. The composer declined, at the time of the first performance of the symphony, to furnish any programme for the music. [158] When the work was produced in Berlin (December 12, 1904), under the direction of the composer, the programme books contained this (presumably authorized) annotation of the music:
"I. INTRODUCTION and development of the three chief groups of themes:
The Husband's Themes:
(a) Easy-going,
(b) Dreamy,
(c) Fiery.
The Wife's Themes:
(a) Lively and gay,
(b) Grazioso.
The Child's Theme:
Tranquil.
"II. SCHERZO:
Parents' happiness. Childish play.
Cradle-song (the clock strikes seven in the evening).
"III. ADAGIO:
Doing and thinking. Love scene.
Dreams and cares (the clock strikes seven in the morning).
"IV. FINALE:
Awakening and merry dispute (double fugue).
Joyous conclusion."
A year later, in connection with the first performance in England, an "official" description was published, and it was intimated that this description was "allowed" by the composer "to be made public." It is therefore reproduced here, since there is every reason to believe that it constitutes an authentic interpretation of the music.
"[INTRODUCTION]
"The symphony is concerned with three main themes, that of the husband, that of the wife, and that of the child. The husband theme is divided into three sections, the first of which is marked gemächlich ('easy-going,' or 'deliberate,' given out by 'cellos), the second sinnend ('meditative,'[159] oboe,) and the third feurig ('fiery,' violins). The first section of the symphony, the Introduction, is devoted to an exposition and treatment of the chief themes, or groups of themes, its most striking feature being the introduction of the child theme on the oboe d'amore, an instrument which has practically fallen out of use.[160] The composer himself has spoken of this theme as being of 'almost Haydnesque simplicity.' On this follows a very characteristic passage, which has been interpreted as representing the child in its bath.[161]
"[SCHERZO]
"The Scherzo bears the headings Elternglück—Kindliche Spiele ('Parents' Happiness'—'The Child at Play'). Its chief theme is the child theme in a new rhythm. At its end the music suggestive of the bath recurs, and the clock strikes seven. We then come to the lullaby, where we have another version of the child theme.
"[ADAGIO]
"The sub-headings of the Adagio are Schaffen und Schauen—Liebes-scene—Träume und Sorgen
('Doing and Thinking'—'Love Scene'—'Dreams and Cares'). This elaborate section introduces no new themes of any importance, and is really a symphonic slow movement of great polyphonic elaboration and superlatively rich orchestral color. The gradual awakening of the family is next depicted by a change in the character of the music, which becomes more and more restless, the use of rhythmical variants of previous themes being very ingenious; and then there is another reference to the bath music, and the glockenspiel[162] indicates that it is 7 A.M.
"[FINALE]
"In this way we reach the final Fugue. The principal subject of this is also a new version of the child theme. Its sub-title is Lustiger Streit—Fröhlicher Beschluss ('Merry Argument'—'Happy Conclusion'), the subject of the dispute between father and mother being the future of the son. The Fugue (the chief subject of which is another variant of the child theme) is carried on with unflagging spirit and humor and great variety of orchestration.... As the Fugue proceeds, the child theme gradually grows more and more prominent, and finally seems to dominate the whole score." ["The child seems to have hurt himself in boisterous play," says another commentator. "The mother cares for him, and the father also has a soothing word.">[ "Some new themes, all more or less akin to it, and all in the nature of folk-tunes, are introduced. The father and mother, however, soon assume their former importance, and the whole ends with great spirit and in the highest good-humor, with an emphatic reassertion of the husband theme with which it began, suggesting that the father had the last word in the argument."
FOOTNOTES:
[142] From the English version of John P. Jackson.
[143] See page 75 (foot-note).
[144] "Rubato": literally, "robbed"; in the phrase, "tempo rubato," a direction that the strict rhythm of the movement be relaxed by prolonging certain notes at the expense of others, which are thus "robbed" of their precise time-value.
[145] Alexander Ritter (1833-1896), composer, violinist, conductor (he married a niece of Wagner, an actress, Franziska Wagner), met Strauss at Meiningen in 1885, during the latter's term there as assistant conductor under Hans von Bülow. The acquaintanceship was of vital consequence to Strauss. "Before I knew Ritter," he himself has said, "I had been brought up in a severely classical school. I had been nourished exclusively on Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven; and then I became acquainted with Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, and Brahms. It is only through Ritter that I came to understand Liszt and Wagner.... Ritter was exceptionally well-read in all the philosophers, ancient and modern, and a man of the highest culture. His influence was in the nature of a storm-wind. He urged me on to the development of the poetic, the expressive, in music, as exemplified in the works of Liszt, Wagner, and Berlioz."
[146] To comment upon this reference to a classic form of musical structure would lead too far afield, although Strauss's suggestion as to the form of his work is not altogether jocose.
[147] See page 12 (foot-note).
[148] See page 184 (foot-note).
[149] Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher, poet, and mystic, was born at Röcken, near Lützen, Germany, October 15, 1844; he died insane at Weimar, August 28, 1900. He was, at one time, a close friend of Richard Wagner's and a passionate adherent and champion of his cause in the days when Wagnerism needed such devoted and effective advocacy as his. Later he became estranged from the author of "Parsifal," and his antagonism was as fervent as had been his partisanship. His bitter and savage Der Fall Wagner (1888) is famous. Also sprach Zarathustra, written in 1883-1885, was published in 1892. Nietzsche's "Zarathustra," it may not be superfluous to add, has nothing whatever in common with the Zarathustra (Zoroaster) of the Persians.
[150] "The German word is untergehen; literally, to go below. It means both 'to perish' and 'to set' (as the sun sets)."—W.F. A.
[151] "In the original: 'ein Übergang und ein Untergang'; literally, 'a going over and a going under.'"—W. F. A.
[152] "This title is in allusion to the old Northern Ragnarök—Götterdämmerung, or 'Twilight of the Gods'—which Wagner took for the title of the closing drama of his Ring des Nibelungen."—W. F. A.
[153] The titanic orchestral proclamation with which the tone-poem begins has been interpreted as a musical illustration of the opening paragraphs of the preface quoted in the score, suggesting the apparition of the rising sun on the mountain-tops, and Zarathustra's apostrophe. The trumpet theme which is intoned at the beginning of this passage over a crescendo roar of the drums and organ has been called both the "Zarathustra" motive and the "Nature" theme.—L. G.
[154] See page 12 (foot-note).
[155] This and the foregoing translations from Cervantes are from the English version of Thomas Shelton.
[156] It has been held that Strauss is here autobiographic, that he here objectifies and pillories those critics of his own works "who have not been prudent enough to proclaim him great." For, Mr. James Huneker declares, "there can be no doubt as to the identity of the protagonist of this drama-symphony—it is the glorified image of Richard Strauss."
[157] See page 12 (foot-note).
[158] When the "Domestica" was first performed in London (February 25, 1905), Mr. Ernest Newman, discussing the stand-point of Strauss towards his works and the public, relieved his mind as follows (it is well to reproduce his comment here, since it may obviate some confusion in the thought of the reader unacquainted with the history of Strauss's relation to programme-music in general and his own in particular): "It has been said very confidently that here Strauss has forsaken programme-music and gone back to music of the absolute order; it has also been said, with equal confidence, that he has done nothing of the kind. Strauss himself has behaved as foolishly over it as he might have been expected to do after his previous exploits in the same line. He writes a work like 'Till Eulenspiegel,' that is based from start to finish on the most definite of episodes, and then goes through the heavy farce of 'mystifying' his hearers by telling them he prefers not to give them the clue to the episodes, but to leave them to 'crack the nut' as best they can. All the while he is giving clue after clue to his personal friends, till at length sufficient information is gathered to reconstruct the story that Strauss had worked upon; this gradually gets into all the programme books, and then we are able to listen to the work in the only way it can be listened to with any comprehension—with a full knowledge of the programme. With each new work of Strauss there is the same tomfoolery—one can use no milder word to describe proceedings that no doubt have a rude kind of German humor, but that strike other people as more than a trifle silly. So it is now with the 'Symphonia Domestica.'"
[159] The direction in the published score is träumerisch ("dreamy").
[160] The oboe d'amore, or hautbois d'amour, invented about 1720, stands a minor third lower in pitch than the treble oboe. It fell into disuse soon after the middle of the eighteenth century. Though it is no longer part of the ordinary orchestral apparatus, it might be restored with advantage. Its use by Strauss is exceedingly effective.
[161] In this section of the symphony occur the celebrated genealogical references of the composer. Above a brief and emphatic ascending figure in the clarinets and trumpet is this note in the score: "The Aunts: 'Just like his papa!'" Oboes, horns, and trombone rejoin in an uncompromising descending phrase which is superscribed: "The Uncles: 'Just like his mamma!'"
[162] See page 184 (foot-note).