One of the most original and individual of composers--A
student, not a copyist, of Wagner--Independent intellectual
basis for his art--Originator of the tone poem--Unhampered by
even the word "symphonic"--Means much to the musically
elect--Not a juggler with the orchestra--A modern of
moderns--Technical difficulties, but not impossibilities in his
works--"Thus Spake Zarathustra" and other scores--Life and
truth, not mere beauty, the burden of modern music--Huneker's
"Piper of Dreams"--"Zarathustra" and "A Hero's Life"
described--An intellectual force in music--"A Hero's Life"
Strauss's "Meistersinger"--Tribute to Wagner in
"Feuersnot"--Performances of Richard Strauss's scores in
America--His symphony in F minor (1883) had its first
performance anywhere, under Theodore
Thomas--Straussiana--Boyhood anecdotes--Scribbled scores on
schoolbook covers--Still at school when first symphony was
played in public--Studied with Von Buelow--Married his
Freihild--Ideals of the highest 207