Composer: born June 11, 1864, Munich; died Garmisch-Partenkirchen, September 8, 1949
Work composed: 1945, rev. 1948
World premiere: Conductor Volkmar Andreae led the Tonhalle Orchester on February 26, 1946 in Zürich, with oboist Marcel Saillet.
Instrumentation: solo oboe, 2 flutes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, and strings
Estimated duration: 26 minutes

In April 1945, American soldiers arrived at Richard Strauss’ estate in the Bavarian resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Strauss, two months shy of his 81st birthday, growled at the young men on his doorstep, “I am Richard Strauss, the composer of ‘Rosenkavalier’ and ‘Salome;’ leave me alone.” As it happened, several of the soldiers were also musicians and recognized Strauss’ name; they arranged for a lawn sign reading “Off Limits” to be posted at Strauss’ house. 

One of the soldiers in Garmisch played oboe with the Pittsburgh Symphony before the war; his name was John de Lancie. (Fans of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” will recognize the name as also belonging to the actor who portrayed “Q,” one of the most memorable aliens Gene Roddenberry ever created; he is the son of oboist John de Lancie). De Lancie Sr. recalled, “… I was overcome by shyness and a feeling of great awe in the presence of this man … I summoned up all my courage and began to talk about the beautiful oboe melodies one comes across in so many of his works – in ‘Don Quixote,’ ‘Don Juan,’ the ‘Sinfonia Domestica’ … and … I asked him whether he had ever thought of writing a concerto for oboe. His answer was a plain ‘No!’”

Strauss’ gruff answer notwithstanding, de Lancie had planted an idea. Not long after their meeting, Strauss wrote to a friend, “In the studio of my old age, a concerto for oboe and small orchestra is being ‘concocted.’” As Strauss worked, the American War Commission gave notice that he had been labeled “Class I – Guilty” for his collaboration with the Third Reich. According to biographer Matthew Boyden, this classification included the threat of confiscated assets, pensions and property, forced labor and the loss of all civil rights. Strauss was allowed to present a defense to the charges, and was eventually allowed to relocate to Switzerland. Before he left Germany, Strauss completed the Oboe Concerto in September 1945 and brought the finished manuscript with him to his new country.

Strauss remains an enigmatic and controversial figure in music history. Much has been written about the extent to which he did or did not collaborate with the Nazis; music lovers will have to judge for themselves his guilt or innocence. Throughout his life, Strauss’ main preoccupation was with his work; he seems to have viewed world events primarily as troublesome intrusions on his happiness. In 1924, six years after World War I, while Germany struggled to rebuild itself, Strauss wrote, “I cannot bear the tragedy of the present time. I want to create joy. I need it.” Those words, time-shifted forward 21 years, provide a fitting introduction to the Oboe Concerto. 

The late musicologist Michael Steinberg wrote, “Oboists tend to go pale when you say the dread words ‘Strauss Concerto.’ Most particularly this response has to do with the opening, where, after two twitches from the cellos, the oboe has a solo of fifty-seven measures in a fairly leisurely tempo and with not so much as a single sixteenth-rest. However, having faced this technical obstacle, the oboist finds a melodic line that is sinuous and lovely, thoroughly vocal in manner.” The melodies call to mind – no doubt Strauss meant them to – arias from Rosenkavalier or Ariadne auf Naxos. Heard outside the context of the time in which it was written, this music is pure delight; only occasional, oblique hints of the real world intrude on Strauss’ exquisitely crafted musical Shangri-La.

© Elizabeth Schwartz