Strauss's symphonic poems (though he preferred to call them tone poems) are all concerned with heroes in one way or another, even if one or two of them may rather be considered anti-heroes. Beginning in 1887 with a wide range of literary characters (Macbeth, Don Juan, Till Eulenspiegel, Zarathustra, Don Quixote) all distinguished by their unconventional attitude to life and with whom Strauss in some way identified himself, he boldly turned to his own life and experiences (Heldenleben and Sinfonia Domestica, also – even if only in his imagination – Tod und Verklärung), notoriously defending accusations of monstrous egotism with frank and disarming candour: “I do not see why I should not compose a symphony about myself; I find myself quite as interesting as Napoleon or Alexander.” With its eight horns it is indeed a tour de force, and he dedicated it to Willem Mengelberg and his Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra though the first performance was in Frankfurt in March 1899, conducted by Strauss himself.

In this piece the most important textual controversy concerns the solo 3.Tr note in 143.

sources

A  Autograph score (1898), in the Richard Strauss Archive, Garmisch

E,P  First edition score and parts, published by Leuckart, Leipzig in 1899. There are three textually distinct printings of the score:

E1  This is in some respects a superseded Urfassung, so it is unfortunate that it was reprinted by Dover in 1979 and is now in common circulation

E2  Revised score, at least by 1902 (present writer's copy is inscribed Arthur Somervell Jan 1. 1903)