Strauss's tone poem,
Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, can be seen as a defence of freedom of speech and action and a plea to people not to take themselves too seriously.
Another musical work invoked by Kerr's poetry is
Till Eulenspiegel in the last song; the words "
Till Eulenspiegel" are the very last that the singer utters in the entire cycle, and Strauss immediately precedes this moment with a statement of the tone poem's principal theme in the piano (mm.
Virtually from the day they were written, Strausss tone poems from the late nineteenth century works such as Don Juan,
Till Eulenspiegel, Also Sprach Zarathustra, and Death and
Also live are the recordings of Don Juan, exuberant, meltingly lovely, busy and confident, and
Till Eulenspiegel, brash, proud, and revealing an unwonted warmth of heart underneath.
109) between
Till Eulenspiegel, of Germanic tradition, and Nasreddin Hodja, of Middle Eastern.
Another is as impertinent as
Till Eulenspiegel. Another is as charmingly bossy as Arabella.
Clearly I both admire and mistrust "New Smoke' in his role as
Till Eulenspiegel, the mischievous Till "Owlglass" of German folklore.
The short first half of the concert was taken up with Richard Strauss'
Till Eulenspiegel, which was delivered in an exhilarating, thoroughly convincing and accomplished fashion.
Again, Strauss's
Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks was, in places, delicate and in others verging on evil.
SOFIA PHILHARMONIC [with Georgi Cherkin on piano; performing Strauss's
Till Eulenspiegel, and Death and Transfiguration, Brahms' Concert for Piano and Orchestra No2] June 11, 7pm
"This new piece sets out to amuse and entertain the audi- ence in a tone poem of just over four minutes." Barry described the piece, which he's called A Calling Card for Herr Owlglass, as a fond skit on Richard Strauss'
Till Eulenspiegel.