Synopsis: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks

Author’s Note: This article comes from a paper I wrote for my orchestral literature class during my master’s degree. Like the ancient Greek astronomy/music essay, it is posted here as more of a showcase of my academic writing, but it was one of the most enjoyable writing assignments I was ever given and I wanted to share it.

Richard Strauss: Biography

Richard Strauss, whose brilliance, wit, and substantial musical legacy is often eclipsed by controversy, was born on June 11, 1864, in Munich, Germany. His father, Franz Strauss, was a respected horn player and instructor who served as principal horn in the Munich court orchestra. At the age of four, Richard began piano lessons, and spent many of his formative years observing the Munich orchestra’s rehearsals. Strauss immediately developed a love for music, making his first attempts at composition by age six and taking up violin lessons with one of Munich’s orchestral violinists at age eight. Throughout his adolescence, Strauss was widely exposed to the music of Richard Wagner, whose operas were often performed, and sometimes premiered, in Munich, and whom Franz loathed both musically and personally. Strauss later recalled witnessing his father verbally sparring with Wagner on at least one occasion, when the latter deigned to ask why Franz looked so gloomy during a rehearsal.[1] Strauss secretly admired Wagner’s music, however, taking note of the enormous symphonic forces and rich, dynamic orchestration common to Wagnerian opera. He undoubtedly appreciated the irony in the fact that his father earned most of his professional reputation by his stellar performances of Wagner’s virtuosic horn parts.

            By the time Strauss completed his formal schooling in 1882, he had an impressive list of compositions to his name, including two orchestral works: the Serenade in G-major (1877) and the Symphony No. 1 in d-minor (1881). The Suite for 13 Winds followed in 1884, as well as a second symphony in 1885, Strauss’s last work that genre, and a turning point after which his mature musical identity began to emerge. During this time, Strauss began to establish himself as a conductor, benefitting from his father’s close relationship with Hans von Bülow, who allowed Strauss to premiere the Suite for 13 Winds under his own baton with the Meiningen Orchestra. His skills on the podium were impressive enough that less than a year after premiering the wind suite, Bülow made Strauss his assistant conductor, passing over such impressive young competition as Gustav Mahler and Felix Weingartner. For the remainder of the 1880s, Strauss would enjoy a meteoric rise as both a composer and conductor, taking on an increasing number of conducting responsibilities as well as turning to more ambitious large-scale compositions.

            Strauss was named to several high-profile conducting positions over the next few years, including a position with the Munich Opera in 1886, and director of the Weimar court orchestra in 1889. As a composer, Strauss began to abandon traditional classical forms in favor of the tone poem, a form pioneered by Franz Liszt. Strauss’s first major work in that genre,[2] Don Juan, was premiered in Weimar on November 11, 1889, to rousing success. At all of 25 years old, Strauss was hailed as the next Wagner, and had established in the tone poem a significant part of his compositional identity. He would compose nine more tone poems in his career, combining the romanticism of Liszt with enormous, Wagnerian orchestration and harmonic creativity.

            In the 1890s, Strauss fully embraced the symphonic tone poem. He followed the success of Don Juan with Macbeth (1888), based on the Shakespeare play, and Death and Transfiguration (1890), a dark, introspective exploration of metaphysical questions surrounding death. His next two tone poems would become two of his most enduringly popular works: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks (1895), a musical portrayal of a mischievous German folk character, and Also Sprach Zarathustra (1896), based on a novel by Friedrich Nietzsche. Strauss also premiered his first opera, Guntram, in 1894, and shortly thereafter married Pauline de Ahna, who sang the leading soprano role. The two were an unlikely pair- Pauline was as brash, blunt, and irreverent as Strauss was straightlaced, quiet, and detached. But their mutual love was deep and abiding, and their marriage would last until Strauss’s death 55 years later.

            After the turn of the century, Strauss became even more ambitious in his compositional language- and his artistic expression. His Biblically-derived opera Salome, premiered in 1905, caused a scandal with its risqué portrayal of the title character’s “Dance of the Seven Veils,” not to mention her later revelation as a necrophiliac. No less a figure than Kaiser Wilhelm II predicted that the opera would be a career killer for Strauss, commenting that “this will do him a lot of damage.” Salome, however, sold out opera houses around the world, and the generous proceeds from the work prompted Strauss’s famous reply to the Kaiser: “The damage enabled me to build my villa in Garmisch.” That villa, constructed between 1907 and 1908, remained Strauss’s home for the rest of his life. Another ambitious opera, Elektra, followed in 1909, again featuring an emotionally troubled titular heroine. In this one-act opera, Strauss makes use of polytonality, becoming one of the first composers to do so. Elektra’s librettist, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, would later collaborate with Strauss on the comic opera Der Rosenkavalier (1911), which remains the composer’s most performed opera.

            Strauss completed his final tone poem, the massively-scaled Alpine Symphony, in 1915. He was named co-director of the Vienna State Opera in 1919, a post he resigned from five years later, after endless frustration with the musical attitudes of post-World War I Europe. Despite his innovative compositional language, he was now considered an old Romantic, a product of a bygone era. Uninterested in political conflict, he focused on his own world, composing a two-act comic opera, Intermezzo, in 1924, which depicted a real-life incident in which a misunderstanding nearly threatened his and Pauline’s marriage. Pauline, rather than being amused, was quite annoyed by the work, but it nonetheless reflected Strauss’s intense devotion to and affection for his family.

            Strauss’s avoidance of politics became untenable in the early 1930s, at which point the rise of fascism in Germany had led to increasing pressure on artists to conform to the values and tastes of the state. His relationship with the Third Reich remains controversial to this day, marked by a cycle of reluctant collaboration and outright disfavor driven by both his political naivete and basic humanity. After Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini withdrew from the 1933 Bayreuth Festival in protest, Strauss, not fully aware of the implications, agreed to replace him. Shortly thereafter, and in no position to decline, he was pushed into leadership of the Reichsmusikkammer, the state authority on music.

Over the ensuing years, he gradually lost favor with the Nazi regime, beginning with his refusal to break off his longtime collaboration with the librettist Stefan Zweig, an Austrian Jew. After a frank letter from Strauss to Zweig was intercepted in which Strauss ridiculed the concept of “Germanic” music, he was stripped of his post. Strauss returned to Garmisch, avoiding the spotlight yet using his influence, where needed, to protect his Jewish daughter-in-law and half-Jewish grandchildren. During World War II, he moved to Vienna, and returned to Garmisch in 1949 after denazification committees cleared him of wrongdoing. He died there on September 8, 1949, after a series of heart attacks. His devoted wife, Pauline, survived him by only eight months, passing away on May 13, 1950.

Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks: Historical Context

Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks was composed in 1895, a time during which Strauss was beginning to fully explore the potential of the symphonic tone poem. By his own admission, he was a disciple of Wagner, whose profound musical influence inspired a generation of composers to write intense, emotionally-charged works intended to reflect deep philosophical questions surrounding the human experience. Strauss’s own Death and Transfiguration, from 1889, exemplified these values, plumbing the darkest recesses of the human soul. But Strauss believed music could convey just as much information in the opposite direction, and the result was Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, a spirited, lighthearted work that Strauss later said he wrote merely “to give the people in the concert hall a good laugh for once.”

            The work’s namesake, Till Eulenspiegel, is a character from German folklore known for his mischievous exploits. His historicity is debated; he is depicted as having lived in the 14th century, although he does not appear in literature until the 16th century. Real or not, his character serves as a humorous yet poignant commentary on Medieval society and politics. Tales abound which depict him as a menace to polite society, engaging in naughty activities ranging from flirting with girls, to hiding in fruit carts at market to frighten unwitting shoppers, to running afoul of civic authorities by impersonating sanctimonious scholars and clergymen. Richard Strauss fully explores Till Eulenspiegel’s character and personality in this tone poem, musically representing some of his most obnoxious- and hilarious- incidents.

Formal Analysis of Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks

Year composed: 1895

Premiere: November 15, 1895, in Cologne, Germany

Structure: Tone poem, loosely follows rondo form; six episodes. It takes on the episodic character of a rondo and is “bookended” by a thematically similar prologue and epilogue, but does not adhere to traditional alternation of recurring sections with multiple episodes.

Scoring: Piccolo, three flutes, three oboes, English horn, clarinet in D, two B-flat clarinets, bass clarinet, three bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, strings, percussion (timpani, triangle, cymbals, bass drum, snare drum, ratchet)

Special features regarding orchestration: The very large size of the ensemble is reflective of Wagner’s influence. The use of the ratchet in the percussion is an early example of Strauss’s predilection for unique percussion instruments, which would later be exemplified by the inclusion of wind and thunder machines in An Alpine Symphony (1915).

Publication data: Public domain. Current publishers include: Dover (reprint of original Joseph Aibl edition, 1896), Breitkopf & Hartel, Kalmus, Luck’s Music Library (reprints of Joseph Aibl and Nieweg editions), Eulenberg

Intro mm. 1-45

Ep. 1 mm. 46-177

Ep. 2
mm. 178-207

Ep. 3

mm. 208-292

Ep. 4

mm. 293-428

Ep. 5

mm. 429-572

Ep. 6

m. 573-632

Epilogue

mm. 633-end

Introduction: The piece opens with a warm “Once Upon a Time” motif in the violins, characterized by a distinct downward tritone leap. The motif is stated only once before an ascending figure is taken up by the clarinets, followed by a sudden entrance in the flutes. In the following (sixth) bar, the meter changes to a brisk 6/8, and the violins begin a tremolo. The first horn then introduces the signature horn-call motif. This motif contains a brief staccato figure that is repeated three times before the horn leaps up to a written A above the staff, then arpeggiates all the way down to a low written C in bass clef. After two brief punctuations from the strings and woodwinds, the horn repeats the motif. It is then taken up by a succession of woodwind instruments, and tension builds until the orchestra reaches a series of sharp fortissimo chords at bar 38, and a fermata at bar 45.

(mm. 14-19) The restatement of Till Eulenspiegel’s theme in the horn.

Episode One: After the fermata, Till Eulenspiegel shows himself, in a rapid variation of the “Once Upon” motif, presented in the D clarinet. The initial statement is followed by a sharp tutti chord and a sudden, ominous E-flat in the low brass. Till then skips away from whoever he has just scared, as the strings depict in a jaunty rhythmic figure beginning in bar 51.

(mm. 50-56) The jaunty “skipping” theme in the strings.

Till seems to be having the time of his life, as the “Once Upon” motif is passed throughout the orchestra and the dynamic tension builds. At bar 70, a half cadence is reached, after which the “Once Upon” motif is restated at a fortissimo in the woodwinds and followed by a downward arpeggiation. A four-note punctuation from the timpani in bar 73 seems to indicate that Till has knocked something over, causing a series of loud thumps. The orchestra then loudly proclaims his delight in two eruptions of joy, based on the horn call motif. At bar 81, the first flute begins a variation of Till’s motif that is answered in the strings. Various woodwinds, including the D clarinet and English horn, present fragments of the theme as the variation develops. A pizzicato appears in the strings in bar 96, which seems innocuous, but in the following bar, the first flute begins a series of fragments of Till’s motif that convey a sense of flight- perhaps Till has surprised another hapless soul who is now running off.

(mm. 97-101) One of Till’s frightened victims scurries away, as depicted in the first flute.

There is a flash of excitement at bar 105, and a brief moment of confusion as indicated by a sixteenth-note flourish in the oboes and English horn in bar 108, but an interjection from the D clarinet resolves the texture back to tonic. A tremolo in the violas creates an atmosphere of tension as the lower strings play a fragment of Till’s theme. The flute answers, followed by the first violins, and all seems to be well until a cymbal crash signals the beginning of pandemonium in bar 135. The tonality suddenly shifts to d-minor, and Strauss uses an assortment of orchestral effects, including rapid ascents in the horns, flutter tonguing in the trumpets, and a ratchet in the percussion, to indicate that Till is in trouble and on the run.

            Almost as suddenly as it began, however, the pandemonium comes to an end. The strings and clarinets rapidly diminuendo from fortissimo to piano in bar 153, and the following bar is completely empty. A series of sixteenth-note flutters in the woodwinds seem to represent Till sprinting away. He halts amid minor-second stabs in the woodwinds, and the listener can hear him catching his breath in the ensuing melodic fragments in the bassoon and clarinets. The tonality returns to F-major, but it is now serving a dominant function, heading towards a B-flat-major resolution. Till has decided on his next prank, and heads for the nearest monastery.

Episode Two: In bar 179, Strauss changes the meter to 2/4. The violas, clarinets, and bassoons introduce a stately, noble theme, representing Till dressed as a friar. He pontificates in his best stentorian voice, yet it is unmistakably his voice, as underscored by a slow variation of Till’s theme in the lower voices in bar 187.

(mm. 179-186) Till Eulenspiegel in the monastery.

As the friars gather, Till begins an irreverent sermon, symbolized by a violin solo beginning in bar 194. In bar 196, the muted trumpets, representing the monks, respond menacingly, characterized by triplets. They suddenly grow to forte in bar 199, accompanied by a timpani roll and tremolos in the strings as the other friars express vehement disagreement. The solo violin repeats the “sermon,” followed by another, briefer trumpet response. The solo violin then ascends to a high E-flat, and rapidly descends, as Till, having aroused the suspicion of the monks, flees the monastery.

Episode Three: In bar 208, Strauss returns to 6/8, and creates a feeling of uncertainty, passing fragments of Till’s theme around the woodwinds as Till looks around for something else to do. At bar 221, there is a sudden flash of inspiration- Till has spotted a beautiful woman, and begins thinking of how to win her affection. The tonality remains ambiguous until bar 227, where Strauss implies a change to g-minor. He commits to this key at bar 229, where a rather heated love theme begins, carried by the first violins and flutes. Till is trying his best to woo her with grandiloquent declarations of love.

(mm. 229-237) The love theme.

Till’s love interest seems to rebuff his advances, as an orchestra-wide molto crescendo to fortissimo in bar 243 indicates Till’s growing frustration. In the following bar, the first horn briefly restates a portion of the horn call motif, and the love theme then returns with Strauss’s score marking “ruhiger”- calmer, as Till tamps down his exasperation for a second try. Despite his gentler pleas, the woman turns him down with finality in bar 253, where Strauss’s marking “wütend,” or “furious,” signals the rise of Till’s anger. Indeed, Till flies into a rage, as the tension continuously builds until bar 271, where the brass, woodwinds, and strings begin an intense, fortissimo canon-like section featuring the first six notes of the Till motif, repeated several times with downward flourishes from the woodwinds in response.

(mm. 271-280) Till Eulenspiegel’s rage.

Till’s rage ends abruptly at the downbeat of bar 288, where the horns, in a triple forte, harshly state the first five notes of Till’s motif, followed by a fermata. Two rapid, overlapping restatements in the B-flat and D clarinets indicate that the troublemaker has spied yet another opportunity to get into trouble, this time by infiltrating the halls of academia.

Episode Four: In bar 293, the bassoons and bass clarinet introduce a pompous, rhythmically pointed theme to represent the pretentious, stuffy professors whom Till has selected as his next victims. After the initial statement, a similarly march-like variant of the horn call motif appears in the strings at bar 299, as Till mocks the professors’ conceited attitudes and preposterous ideas right in front of them. In bar 313, amid a cacophony of woodwind entrances, the professors shout over each other as they haughtily rebuke their irreverent intruder.

(mm. 292-300) The motif of the academics.

The argument continues, with tension rising and falling, as Till shows that he is far more intelligent than he is given credit for. He stumps the professors over and over, depicted by the increasingly confused entrances of the academic motif in the woodwinds. Finally, at bar 342, the professors have had enough. The low brass, at a fortissimo, angrily restate a fragment of the academic motif, and Till responds in kind in the strings and woodwinds. This dialogue repeats, and then Till heads for the door, as the orchestra suddenly falls to a piano in bar 358. A crescendo follows which peaks at a fortissimo in bar 362, where the professors begin hurling a final insult at Till. In bar 366, he begins his own parting shot in the strings and woodwinds, to which the professors respond with a triple forte in the brass. Finally, a mischievous fermata in bar 370, which suggests some sort of obscene gesture from Till, puts an end to his heated dialogue with the professors.

            Pleased with himself, Till happily skips away from the professors’ lair in bar 375, where the strings and clarinets introduce a lively tune in 2/4 time. The texture suddenly deteriorates to nothing, however, as Till stops to rest. A slow statement of his motif appears in bar 396, as he falls into deep thought. A brief oboe solo begins in bar 403, after which the meter changes back to 6/8 in bar 410. One can easily picture a grin spreading across Till’s face in the ensuing bars, as he is struck by sudden inspiration. A flourishing theme, carried in the strings and clarinets, represents Till scheming for his most ambitious escapade yet. The thematic variant from bar 81 returns in the woodwinds in bar 426, leading to a half cadence in bar 428.

Episode Five: The horn solo from the introduction returns in bar 429, and is repeated in the third horn in bar 436. The texture diminuendos down to a pianissimo in bar 447, and in bar 449, the horn restates a fragment of its previous solo in the lower part of its range. The strings and woodwinds respond in a series of flourishes, and a dialogue ensues in which the horn’s repeated thematic fragment rises in pitch until it reaches a high written C in bar 463. What follows is a recapitulation of sorts, featuring material from the introduction (bars 63-70). A fortissimo F-major chord is reached at bar 483, and in bar 485, Till, brimming with confidence puts his grand scheme into action. The horns and trombones begin a soaring, triumphant variation of the original horn call, which the trumpets take over in bar 493.

(mm. 489-494) The soaring variation of the horn call motif.

In bar 500, Strauss begins a lively, lilting variation of Till’s theme with staccatos in the woodwinds and pizzicatos in the strings, while the horns continue fragmentary statements of the horn call motif. The texture suddenly lowers to a pianissimo in bar 508, after which the flute begins an extended solo featuring rapid flourishes based on Till’s theme. Strauss sustains these textural layers until increasingly urgent punctuations from the first trumpet raise the tension in bar 527. The ensemble suddenly reaches a triple forte in bar 544, which leads to a sustained, intense tutti V7/V in bar 553. The strings and woodwinds then continue the lilting variation of Till’s theme while the brass begin a strong, punctuated variation of the horn call. The entire ensemble soon joins in this variation, resulting in a sustained, relentless tutti descent into chaos. The orchestra suddenly crescendos, and arrives suddenly in D-major at bar 567. The brass loudly recall the monk’s theme from the second episode, indicating that one of Till’s victims has returned to exact revenge.

Episode Six: A piercing, fortissimo tutti chord on the downbeat of bar 573 gives way to an ominous drumroll. In the pickup to bar 577, the brass begin a series of heavy, powerful f-minor chords. A fermata is reached at bar 582, after which the D clarinet timidly restates Till’s theme. Then, the brass ruthlessly return to their heavy chords, followed by yet another timid clarinet statement. Justice has caught up with Till Eulenspiegel, and his pleas are going unheard.

(mm. 576-581) Till Eulenspiegel is caught by the authorities, as evidenced by the strong, ominous brass chords.

After a third statement from the brass, the D clarinet restates the Till theme an octave higher, representing Till’s loud protests. The brass continue to herald Till’s doom until bar 604, where the trumpets and strings state a minor-key variation of the monks’ response to Till’s irreverent sermon in the second variation. It seems that Till’s pursuers have turned out to be none other than the clergymen he tormented earlier, intent on capturing and executing the miscreant for the crime of blasphemy. At bar 613, the low brass give a portentous, downward major-seventh leap- the platform under Till’s feet opens, and he drops down with a rope around his neck. The D clarinet records his strangled cry of agony, a rapid, upward arpeggiation. The clarinet then descends, and Till Eulenspiegel expires in bar 624. The section ends with a series of string pizzicatos, perhaps ghoulishly representing the last twitches of his body.

Epilogue: The “Once Upon a Time” variation from the opening of the piece returns in bar 632. A warm, sentimental texture follows the initial restatement of the opening theme. The melodic line gradually rises in pitch and tension to accentuate the epilogue’s denouement. Strauss briefly points towards A-flat major in bar 641, then g-minor, before resolving back into F-major. The clarinets and horns then wistfully recall the horn call motif in a series of restatements. The B-flat clarinets then engage in a dialogue with the bass clarinet, gently trading fragments of the horn call until the texture suddenly halts on an E-flat-major chord, held over a fermata, in bar 649. In the next bar, the entire orchestra suddenly enters on a forte in the dominant chord of C-major, and crescendos to a fortissimo for the resolution. The strings and woodwinds combine for one final statement of Till’s motif, and the piece ends on a series of tutti chords in tonic. Till Eulenspiegel may have succumbed to the hangman’s noose, but his spirit lives on.

(mm. 632-642) The return of “Once Upon a Time” in the epilogue.

Footnotes

[1] Another recorded incident occurred in 1867, while the Munich orchestra was in a dress rehearsal for the premiere of Der Meistersinger von Nurnberg. The orchestra had already gone through nearly 30 grueling rehearsals, all of them without an assistant first horn player. After the dress rehearsal went past its seventh consecutive hour, Franz, drained of both patience and embouchure strength, decided to quit on the spot, and got up to leave. Conductor Hans von Bülow angrily told him to gather his pension on the way out. The orchestra’s intendant, however, managed to convince him to stay, as he was considered irreplaceable due to his ability as a horn player.

[2] His work Aus Italien (From Italy), composed in 1886, is sometimes considered his first tone poem, but in the judgment of this author, the work is more accurately described as a “program symphony” since it follows traditional four-movement symphonic form.

Bibliography

Boosey & Hawkes. Richard Strauss. https://www.boosey.com/pages/cr/composer/composer_main?composerid=2705&ttype=BIOGRAPHY

Deutsche Grammophon. Richard Strauss- Biography. https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/composers/richardstrauss/biography

Dotsey, C. (2018). Dance for me, Salome: Strauss’s Dance of the Seven Veils. Houston Symphony. https://houstonsymphony.org/strauss-salome-dance/

Dotsey, C. (2019). Musical pranks: Strauss’s Till Eulenspiegel. Houston Symphony. https://houstonsymphony.org/strauss-till-eulenspiegel/

Kennedy, M. Richard Strauss. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Strauss

Richard Strauss.at. Strauss and the family. http://www.richardstrauss.at/strauss-and-the-family.html

Schwarm, B. Don Juan, op. 20. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Don-Juan-tone-poem-by-Strauss