A preface to the third edition can in the nature of things be little
more than a repetition of that to the second. While in one way it is
regrettable that the article on Strauss does not carry us further than
the _Symphonia Domestica_, that work, after all, is the most convenient
and the most logical closing point for a study of him in all but his
very latest activities. It is about seven years now since he launched
out upon a new sea with _Salome_. With that and the operas that
followed it he has made a new "period" in his artistic history. The
best time, however, for critically appraising what he has done in the
theatre will be when he comes out of it, and lets us see what influence
his operatic methods and ideals have had on his musical thinking as
a whole. He is said to have been engaged for some time on a "Nature"
Symphony. The appearance of that or of some other purely instrumental
work will give the opportunity for a rounded study of the later
Strauss, who has made even his own earlier works seem rather far-off
things.
The Appendix to the volume remains as in the second edition. No
occasion has been given me to pursue the subject further.
E. N.
_Oct. 1913._