Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

Well into his 80s, Richard Strauss (1864–1949) continued to compose, and some of the major works during this period included his Second Horn Concerto, Metamorphosen (for 23 strings), Oboe Concerto, Duet-Concertino for clarinet and bassoon and his Four Last Songs.

Strauss didn’t live to hear these songs performed, although in a sense it didn’t matter, for the lovingly remembered, long-since-faded soprano of his wife Pauline was the only voice he would have wanted to hear singing this music. . . . In September [1949], Strauss died at home in his sleep. Pauline died the following May, just nine days before the premiere of her husband’s — and, in the deepest sense, her — four last songs. They were immediately acclaimed as among the very finest of Strauss’ achievements — music for which his entire career was preparation. Little in his output can match the beauty and depth of these songs — from the transparency of the orchestral writing, with its burnished horn solos and shimmering birdsong, to the radiant soprano lines — rising on Lüften (skies), taking off in breathless flight at Vogelsang (birdsong), and — in one of the most unforgettable moments in music — soaring in phrases of pure rapture, to match the violin’s lofty melody, at Seele (soul).
      — Phillip Huscher, CSOA scholar-in-residence and program annotator

At the composer’s request, Kirsten Flagstad was the first to perform the songs. The concert was given on May 22, 1950, at the Royal Albert Hall in London with Wilhelm Furtwängler leading the Philharmonia Orchestra. In Orchestra Hall four years later, on October 28 and 29, 1954, soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf made her American and Chicago Symphony Orchestra debuts in Strauss’ Four Last Songs and the closing scene from his final opera, Capriccio. Fritz Reiner, in his second season as sixth music director, conducted.

Schwarzkopf “is both a soprano with a historically beautiful voice of its kind and a musician of transcendent intelligence. She knows most intimately what her texts are about, feels them deeply, and possesses the extraordinary vocal capacity to color with each word, each mood, each musical phrase,” raved Roger Dettmer in the Chicago American. “Here was artistry of the utmost fulfillment of an exquisite and cherished kind heard rarely in a lifetime of listening.”

“It has seemed to me that it took Miss Schwarzkopf a long time to come here,” commented Claudia Cassidy in the Chicago Tribune. “But exactly the right time, too. For it brought her here when Reiner, a kind of Straussian magician, had restored to the Orchestra its old, deep layered glow, and had added an immaculate polish strictly his own. Good things go together, and it is worthwhile to wait.”

The capacity crowd on October 28 included another legendary soprano — Maria Callas — also preparing to make her American debut, in town for the title role in Bellini’s Norma during Lyric Theatre of Chicago’s first season. (The company’s name was changed to Lyric Opera of Chicago for the 1955–56 season.)

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has performed Strauss’ song cycle on a number of occasions with a some of the most notable singers of our time. A complete list is below.

October 28 and 29, 1954, Orchestra Hall
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, soprano
Fritz Reiner, conductor

December 4 and 5, 1958, Orchestra Hall
Lisa Della Casa, soprano
Fritz Reiner, conductor

January 9, 1965, Orchestra Hall
Lois Marshall, soprano
Irwin Hoffman, conductor

April 28 and 29, 1966, Orchestra Hall
Montserrat Caballé, soprano
Irwin Hoffman, conductor

March 13, 1971, Orchestra Hall
March 15, 1971, Uihlein Hall, Milwaukee
Leontyne Price, soprano
Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor

August 12, 1976, Ravinia Festival
Martina Arroyo, soprano
Lawrence Foster, conductor

October 17 and 19, 1977, Orchestra Hall
November 1 and 2, 1977, Carnegie Hall
Lucia Popp, soprano
Sir Georg Solti, conductor (October 17, 19, and November 2)
Henry Mazer, conductor (November 1)
The October performances in Orchestra Hall were recorded for television broadcast by Unitel. It was released as part of a four-DVD set called Sir Georg Solti: The Maestro in 2007 by Decca.

October 1, 2, and 3, 1981, Orchestra Hall
Margaret Price, soprano
Claudio Abbado, conductor

June 29, 1985, Ravinia Festival
Kiri Te Kanawa, soprano
James Levine, conductor

June 25, 1993, Ravinia Festival
Alessandra Marc, soprano
Mariss Jansons, conductor

June 6, 1998, Orchestra Hall
Jane Eaglen, soprano
Daniel Barenboim, conductor

August 8, 1998, Ravinia Festival
Renée Fleming, soprano
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor

August 11, 2000, Ravinia Festival
Deborah Voigt, soprano
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor

July 28, 2001, Ravinia Festival
Kiri Te Kanawa, soprano
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor

December 13, 14, and 15, 2001, Orchestra Hall
Jane Eaglen, soprano
Daniel Barenboim, conductor

July 24, 2010, Ravinia Festival
Renée Fleming, soprano
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor

May 15, 16, and 17, 2014, Orchestra Hall
Susanna Phillips, soprano
Edo de Waart, conductor

December 6, 7, 8, and 11, 2018, Orchestra Hall
Erin Wall, soprano
Edward Gardner, conductor

This article also appears here, and portions previously appeared here.