DON QUIXOTE

Richard Strauss draws on the misadventures of Don Quixote to compose a symphonic poem in the form of variations for cello, viola and orchestra. The composer uses the cello as a representation of Don Quixote, while the viola (and occasionally the bass clarinet and tuba) expresses the character of Sancho Panza. Strauss was a composer fascinated by the figure of a hero and his musical embodiment from philosophical and literary references, as evidenced by works such as Thus Spoke Zarathustra, A Hero’s Life or Don Quixote. The composer’s identification with the hero is a constant throughout his production, and the processes of transformation and victorious overcoming are the structural background to much of his music. To achieve this synthesis with the Nietzschean superman, Strauss embraces every orchestral resource imaginable to broaden the threshold of what is possible and generate an instrument in the service of mankind’s unstoppable progress.