Run Time: Approx. 24 minutes

Though it is unclear whether Strauss knew the Four Last Songs would be his final composition, the works—named posthumously for their place in his catalog—are undeniably songs of farewell. Near the end of his life, Strauss had become increasingly unsettled by the rapidly changing world around him. The end of World War II had ushered in new post-romantic tastes, and though his own groundbreaking writing had played a large part in developing this new sound, he felt his own work had become less relevant than it once was. He was also extremely distraught by the destruction of the Munich National Theatre, where his father had once played horn and where he had seen the premieres of many of his own operas. Perhaps aware of his age and growing nostalgic for his earlier years, Strauss turned away from the experimentation that defined his late period and returned to the lush Romanticism of his youth.

His imagination was first captured by the poem “Im Abendrot” (“In the Evening Glow”) by Joseph von Eichendorff, which became the final song in the set, after which he added “Spring,” “September,” and “While going to sleep,” all by Hermann Hesse. Both poets address death with delicate metaphors—the changing of the seasons, the closing of one’s eyes for rest—and Strauss illustrates the texts with an equally light touch, coloring phrases like “Leaf upon leaf drops golden” with gently descending phrases but never becoming overwrought. The songs unfold like a curtain slowly closing on the final act, beginning in “Spring” with energy and a bit of anticipation and gradually laying down in a tranquil slumber.

In the final line of “Im Abendrot”, the soprano asks, “Is this perhaps – Death?” Her question is answered in the orchestra with a quote from Strauss’s own tone poem Death and Transfiguration, written when he was just 20 years old. It’s widely believed that these were the last notes he ever committed to paper. “It’s a funny thing,” he later remarked on his deathbed, “dying is just the way I composed it in Death and Transfiguration.” For a composer whose catalogue includes epic tales like Don Quixote, Alpine Symphony, and A Hero’s Life, in which he casts himself as the swashbuckling protagonist, it seems only fitting that he would compose himself such an exquisitely rendered closing scene.

If readers will indulge a personal note: Four Last Songs appears on the bucket list of many orchestral musicians, including mine. While countless artists have captured the nuances of the human experience, this work occupies a higher plane. The melodies seem to simply float away—heartbreakingly wistful plumes of sound—rising from earth, the sonic embodiment of saying goodbye. One cannot help but hope that Strauss was indeed correct in his assertion that death is just as he composed it.