Editing Richard Strauss (section)

===Success in conducting and tone poems (1885–1898)===

In 1885 Strauss met the composer [[Alexander Ritter]] who was a violinist in the Meiningen orchestra and the husband of one of [[Richard Wagner]]'s nieces. An avid champion of the ideals of Wagner and [[Franz Liszt]], Ritter had a tremendous impact on the trajectory of Strauss's work as a composer from 1885 onward. Ritter convinced Strauss to abandon his more conservative style of composing and embrace the "music of the future" by modeling his compositional style on Wagner and Liszt.<ref name="g1"/> He further influenced Strauss by engaging him in studies and conversations on the writings of [[Arthur Schopenhauer]], Wagner, and Friedrich von Hausegger. All of this together gave a new aesthetic anchor to Strauss which first became evident in his embrace of the [[tone poem]] genre.<ref name="g1"/>

After leaving his post in Meiningen in 1886, Strauss spent several weeks traveling throughout Italy before assuming a new post as third conductor at the [[Bavarian State Opera]] (then known as the Munich Hofoper). While traveling he wrote down descriptions of the various sites he was seeing along with tonal impressions that went with those descriptions. These he communicated in a letter to his mother, and they ultimately were used as the beginning of his first tone poem, ''[[Aus Italien]]'' (1886).<ref name="g1" /> Shortly after Strauss assumed his opera conducting duties in Munich, Ritter himself moved to the city in September 1886. For the next three years the two men would meet regularly, often joined by Thuille and [[Anton Seidl]], to discuss music, particularly Wagner and Liszt, and discuss poetry, literature, and philosophy.<ref name="g1" />

Strauss's tenure at the Bavarian State Opera was not a happy one. With the death of [[Ludwig II of Bavaria]] in June 1886, the opera house was not as well financially supported by his successor [[Otto, King of Bavaria|Otto of Bavaria]] which meant that much of the more ambitious and expensive repertoire that he wanted to stage, such as Wagner's operas, were unfeasible. The opera assignments he was given, works by Boieldieu, Auber and Donizetti, bored him, and to make matters worse Hermann Levi, the senior conductor at the house, was often ill and Strauss was required to step in at the last minute to conduct performance for operas which he had never rehearsed. This caused problems for him, the singers, and the orchestra. During this time, Strauss did find much more enjoyable conducting work outside Munich in Berlin, Dresden, and Leipzig. In the latter city he met and befriended the composer [[Gustav Mahler]] in the autumn of 1887. Also happily, Strauss met his future wife, soprano [[Pauline de Ahna]], in 1887. De Ahna was then a voice student at the Munich Musikschule (now the [[University of Music and Performing Arts Munich]]), but soon switched to private lessons with Strauss who became her principal teacher.<ref name="g1"/>
[[File:Pauline Strauss de Ahna.jpg|thumb|Pauline de Ahna Strauss, c. 1900]]
In May 1889 Strauss left his post with the Bavarian State Opera after being appointed [[Kapellmeister]] to [[Charles Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach]] in Weimar, beginning in the autumn of 1889. During the summer of 1889 he served as the assistant conductor of the [[Bayreuth Festival]] during which time he befriended [[Cosima Wagner]] who became a longterm close friend.<ref name="g1"/> Pauline De Ahna went with Strauss to Weimar and he later married her on 10 September 1894. She was famous for being irascible, garrulous, eccentric and outspoken, but to all appearances the marriage was essentially happy, and she was a great source of inspiration to him. Throughout his life, from his earliest songs to the final ''[[Four Last Songs]]'' of 1948, he preferred the [[soprano|soprano voice]] to all others, and all his operas contain important soprano roles. In Weimar she created the role of Freihild in Strauss's first opera, ''[[Guntram (opera)|Guntram]]'', in 1894. The opera was received with mixed reviews in Weimar, but its later production in Munich was met with scorn and was Strauss's first major failure.<ref name="g1"/>

In spite of the failure of his first opera, Strauss's tenure in Weimar brought about several important successes for his career. His tone poem ''[[Don Juan (Strauss)|Don Juan]]'' premiered in Weimar on 11 November 1889 to tremendous critical response, and the work quickly brought him international fame and success. This was followed by another lauded achievement, the premiere of his tone poem ''[[Death and Transfiguration]]'' in 1890. Both of these works, along with the earlier ''Burleske'', became internationally known and established him as a leading modernist composer.<ref name="g1"/> He also had much success as a conductor in Weimar, particularly with the symphonic poems of Liszt and an uncut production of ''Tristan und Isolde'' in 1892.<ref name="g1"/>
[[File:Strauss Haus Garmisch.JPG|thumb|left|Strauss villa at [[Garmisch-Partenkirchen]]]]
In the summer of 1894 Strauss made his conducting debut at the Bayreuth Festival, conducting Wagner's ''Tannhäuser'' with Pauline singing Elisabeth. Just prior to their marriage the following September, Strauss left his post in Weimar when he was appointed Kapellmeister, or first conductor, of the Bavarian State Opera where he became responsible for the operas of Wagner. While working in Munich for the next four years he had his largest creative period of tone poem composition, producing ''[[Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks]]'' (1895), ''[[Also sprach Zarathustra]]'' (1896), ''[[Don Quixote (Strauss)|Don Quixote]]'' (1897), and ''[[Ein Heldenleben]]'' (1898).<ref name="g1"/> He also served as principal conductor of the [[Berlin Philharmonic]] in 1894–1895. In 1897, the Strausses' only child, their son Franz, was born.<ref name="RS">{{Cite web|url=http://www.richardstrauss.at/strauss-and-the-family.html|title=Richard Strauss Website}}</ref> In 1906, Strauss purchased a block of land at [[Garmisch-Partenkirchen]] and had a villa ({{ill|Strauss-Villa (Garmisch-Partenkirchen)|de|lt=Strauss-Villa}}) built there with the down payments from the publisher [[Adolph Fürstner]]<ref>

[http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/digital/exhibitions/exhibits/show/the-bible-through-music/item/1562 'Salome 2']. [[Salome (opera)]]. [[Adolph Fürstner]]. 'The Bible Through Music'. [[Indiana University]]. (USA).</ref> for his opera ''[[Salome (opera)|Salome]]'',<ref>Jefferson, Alan. (1973). ''The Life of Richard Strauss''. p. 107. {{ISBN|0-7153-6199-6}}. ''[[David & Charles]]''. (Devon, UK)</ref><ref>Hopkins, Kate. (16 January 2018). [http://www.roh.org.uk/news/opera-essentials-strausss-salome 'Opera Essentials: Strauss's Salome']. [[Royal Opera House]]. (United Kingdom).</ref> residing there until his death.<ref name="g1"/>