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Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony), Op. 64, is a large symphonic poem composed by Richard Strauss between 1911 and 1915. A typical performance entails upwards of forty-five minutes of continuous music; it depicts a full-day excursion on a mountain in the Bavarian Alps. Strauss dedicated the work to Count Nicolaus Seebach and the Royal Kapelle (Orchestra) in Dresden, the ensemble which gave the premiere in 1915.
Instrumentation
The Alpine Symphony is one of Strauss’ largest non-operatic conceptions, and the composer himself considered it his best-wrought work in terms of its orchestration. The following list corresponds to the score’s layout:
- Woodwinds:
- 2 piccolos, 2 flutes
- 2 oboes, English horn, and heckelphone
- 1 E-flat clarinet, 2 B-flat (or C) clarinets, bass clarinet
- 3 bassoons, and a contrabassoon.
- Brass:
- 4 French horns, 4 Wagner tubas
- 4 trumpets
- 4 trombones, and 2 bass tubas.
- Offstage: 12 horns, 2 trumpets and 2 trombones
- Timpani (requiring two players)
- Percussion(requiring a total of three players):
- Celesta
- Pipe organ
- Strings:
- 2 Harps
- 18 1st violins
- 16 2nd violins
- 12 violas
- 10 cellos
- 8 double basses
The list requires an orchestra of at least 100 players. The composer has even suggested that the number of players in some instrumental groups of the orchestra should best be multiplied when playing the symphony, and some more offstage instruments should best be added, which would result in an orchestra of over 150 members.
The use of Samuel's Aerophone is prescribed in the orchestration notes along with the instrumentation. This device, invented by Belgian flautist Bernhard Samuel in 1912, is a bellows operated by a foot pedal with an air hose attached to the mouthpiece of woodwind instruments and aids the player to sustain long notes without interruption.
Such use of contemporary instrumentation combined with the vast resources needed for this symphony might better reflect Strauss' style of expanding the orchestra beyond the style more closely associated with the Romantic period and into the Modern period.
Program
Although one continuous movement, the symphony has a distinct program which describes each phase of the Alpine journey:
- Nacht (Night)
- Sonnenaufgang (Sunrise)
- Der Anstieg (the Ascent)
- Eintritt in den Wald (Entry into the Woods)
- Wanderung neben dem Bache (Walking along the Brook)
- Am Wasserfall (at the Waterfall)
- Erscheinung (a Visual Feature)
- Auf blumigen Wiesen (on Flowery Meadows)
- Auf der Alm (on the Pasture)
- Durch Dickicht und Gestrüpp auf Irrwegen (Wrong Path through the Thicket)
- Auf dem Gletscher (on the Glacier)
- Gefahrvolle Augenblicke (Moments of Danger)
- Auf dem Gipfel (at the Summit)
- Vision (Vision)
- Nebel steigen auf (the Fog Rises)
- Die Sonne verdüstert sich allmählich (the Sun is Gradually Obscured)
- Elegie (Elegy)
- Stille von dem Sturm (Calm before the Storm)
- Gewitter und Sturm, Abstieg (Thunder and storm, Descent)
- Sonnenuntergang (Sunset)
- Ausklang (the Journey Ends)
- Nacht (Night)
Eine Alpensinfonie represents a striking example of a program symphony, where each concept, idea, or experience is given a distinct Leitmotif. Additionally, the work uses vivid musical imagery to tell its story - especially during the thunderstorm sequence - and for this reason can be compared to Paul Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice or many of Richard Wagner's operas. Strauss makes use of distinctly Bavarian musical themes, yet he also employs the more modern technique of polytonality (for example, the introduction has the entire string section sustaining all seven notes of the B-flat minor scale simultaneously).
Strauss was inspired to write this symphony based on his own experiences in a hiking journey up a mountain when he was fourteen years old. Accordingly, many of the themes and phases in the symphony are identical, in sequence and in structure, to his own memory of the Alpine journey he took more than thirty years prior to composing this work.
Premieres
- World Premiere: 28 October 1915, Berlin, Dresden Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer.
- American Premiere: 26 October 1916, New York City, New York Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Josef Stransky.
Trivia
The symphony was the first ever work to be released on CD, recorded by H. von Karajan for Deutsche Grammophon
Note
While not a symphony in the strict classical sense, the work does contain many important elements of symphonic form.
"Eine Alpensinfonie"