"FROM ITALY," SYMPHONIC FANTASIA: Op. 16
1. ON THE CAMPAGNA
(Andante)
2. AMID ROME'S RUINS
(Allegro molto con brio)
3. ON THE SHORE OF SORRENTO
(Andantino)
4. NEAPOLITAN FOLK-LIFE
(Allegro molto)
"Aus Italia," the first of Strauss's descriptive works for orchestra, was composed in 1886, a year in which the composer visited Rome and Naples. The score is avowedly programmatic, however, only to the extent of the titling of the different movements, except that the second, "Amid Rome's Ruins," bears this additional superscription: "Fantastic Pictures of Vanished Splendor; Feelings of Sadness and Grief in the Midst of the Sunniest Present."