- Source: Wandrers Sturmlied
Wanderer's Storm Song (German: Wandrers Sturmlied), Op. 14, TrV 131, is a choral work for choir and orchestra written by Richard Strauss in 1884, based on a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe of the same title.
Composition history
The piece was written when Strauss had come under the influence of the music of Johannes Brahms. It was completed on 22 May 1884. The work was premiered in Cologne with Strauss conducting the city orchestra and choir on 8 March 1887. The choir is divided into six parts: two soprano, alto, tenor and two bass. The work is dedicated to Franz Wüllner who had conducted the German premiere of Strauss' Symphony 2 in January 1885.
Instrumentation
The orchestral arrangement calls for:
One piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in B, two bassoons, one contrabassoon
Four french horns in F, two trumpets in D, three trombones
Timpani
Strings
Lyrics
Strauss sets the first 38 lines of Goethe's 116 line poem.
References
Further reading
Norman Del Mar, Richard Strauss. A Critical Commentary on his Life and Works, Volume 3, London: Faber and Faber (2009)[1968] (second edition), ISBN 978-0-571-25098-1.
Schuh, Willi. Richard Strauss: A Chronicle of the Early Years 1864–1898, (translated by Mary Wittal), Cambridge University Press, 1982. ISBN 9780521241045.
External links
"Wandrers Sturmlied" (Strauss, Richard): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project