In 1915, with his Alpine Symphony, Richard Strauss essentially ceased writing purely orchestral music, concentrating on opera, songs and choral works. But with the gradual closing and, ultimately, the destruction of Germany’s opera houses and theaters as a result of W.W.II, practical necessity sent him back to composing instrumental music. Strauss admitted that he really had little new to say but that he enjoyed wielding his old skills. He found it difficult but challenging, rising to the occasion with a string of outstanding instrumental works, which started with his Horn Concerto No.2 in 1942, and included the amazing Metamorphoses for 23 string instruments and the Oboe Concerto.
Speaking of Strauss’s Alpine Symphony, that was the first DPO Masterworks-Series piece that was lost to the COVID pandemic, in March 2020. We hope to be able to get back to that wonderful—and massive—piece in a future season!
With the war over early in the summer of 1945, the 80-year-old Strauss, isolated in his villa in Garmisch in the Bavarian Alps, met 21-year old American GI, oboist John de Lancie of the Pittsburgh Symphony. De Lancie somehow found the courage to suggest to the famous composer that he write an oboe concerto. "I asked him if, in view of the numerous beautiful, lyric solos for oboe in almost all of his works, he had ever considered writing a concerto for oboe," de Lancie recalled later. "He answered no, and there was no more conversation on the subject." Shortly thereafter, the Strauss villa was declared off limits, presumably because musically inclined American military personnel might respond sympathetically to the old composer. Strauss and his wife had to move to Switzerland, but De Lancie’s idea had taken root, and a year later the Oboe Concerto was ready and was premiered in Zurich in 1946.
The name John de Lancie will be familiar to Trekkies. No, this is not the actor who played the role of Q in Star Trek. But John de Lancie the actor is John de Lancie the oboist’s son.
Strauss was intimately familiar with the oboe’s technical and artistic possibilities, having written in his operas and symphonic poems some of the most sensuous and virtuosic music ever written for the instrument. Nevertheless, he certainly did not spare the soloist in extremely harrowing demands in breath control and sheer endurance.
The Concerto is conservative in form, adhering to the three-movement classical model, though the movements are played without a pause. It opens with a four-note trill by the cellos in a figure that will come to have an important place within the concerto as a whole. It is followed by 57 measures of continuous leisurely solo playing by the oboe – without a break! The long theme, as well as the entire movement, is dominated by two repeated motives, the first a sinuous arpeggio, the second a triplet figure introduced midway through the long solo. There is also a contrasting second theme introduced by the orchestra. As if oboists haven't sufficiently demonstrated their prowess, Strauss uses the development section to offer a few more light-heartedly virtuosic opportunities that continue to play with the opening motive.
The Andante movement opens with the same cello motive as the first movement, followed by another long melody on the oboe, also based on two smaller motives. A cadenza links the movement to the Vivace-allegro finale, a joyous expression full of angular leaps, opening with some playful banter between the oboe and the flute. The movement repeatedly returns to a gentler mood in two subsidiary themes. After another cadenza for the soloist in the middle of the movement, Strauss, who was seldom able to resist a waltz, adds one here, later transforming the Finale's second theme into a waltz as well.
De Lancie, whom Strauss always referred to as "that Chicago oboist," went on to become principal oboist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and then Director of the Curtis Institute.
