Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Op. 28

Composer: STRAUSS, Richard
  • Strauss completed his tone poem Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28 (Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks) on May 6, 1895 (he dated his manuscript). The work premiered on November 5, 1895, in Cologne, in a concert by the Gürzenich Konzert Städtische Orchester.1
  • Till Eulenspiegel was the fifth of Strauss’s ten tone poems.2
  • Strauss originally considered writing an opera about Till Eulenspiegel, the legendary semi-historical Medieval jester , but eventually decided on a tone poem instead.3
    • However, Strauss didn’t technically call the work a tone poem (even though it is). He called it a “Rondeau Form for Large Orchestra” – which it is not. The work is structured a little bit like a Rondo (but very loosely) and not at all like a French rondeau, which is a French Medieval poetry form. Austrian musicologist Richard Specht suggested that Strauss’s subtitle was a prank in the style of Till Eulenspiegel. 

“Once upon a time there was a knavish fool named Till Eulenspiegel. He was a wicked goblin up to new tricks.”

Strauss’s scenario for Till Eulenspiegel4
  • “Eulenspiegel” means “owl-mirror.” In the Middle Ages, the owl was sometimes used to represent wickedness or stupidity; hence, the character held up a mirror to the stupidity of humanity.5 The character was usually depicted with an owl and a mirror. The name also has a less polite meaning in Low German but I’ll let you look that up yourself6 if you really want to know. 

Sources

  1. “Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28 (Strauss, Richard),” IMSLP, accessed July 28, 2021, https://imslp.org/wiki/Till_Eulenspiegels_lustige_Streiche,_Op.28_(Strauss,_Richard).  
  2. Ibid.
  3. Bryan Gilliam and Charles Youmans, “Strauss, Richard,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed July 28, 2021,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040117.
  4. Ibid.
  5. Wilhelm Kühner, “Till Eulenspiegel is still winking and and smirking at our stupidity and evil,” Medium, (October 7, 2017) https://medium.com/k%C3%BChner-kommentar/till-eulenspiegel-winking-and-smirking-at-the-eternal-foolishness-in-us-all-be74d5f707f8. 
  6. Paul Oppenheimer, ed. & trans., Till Eulenspiegel: His Adventures (London: Routledge, 2001), lxiii.

Cut IDs

40345 40428 18495 19173