Like the Symphony in D Minor of 1880, Strauss' Symphony in F Minor (1883 - 84) is remarkable for the conspicuous absence of the advanced harmonic idiom so closely associated with the composer's later tone poems and operas. The Symphony—wholly atypical of what was being written in Germany at the time—represents a step backwards for Strauss, a reversion to an earlier aesthetic. The influence of Wagner is not yet evident in Strauss' music at this point. As a young composer, Strauss was quite ambivalent about the new music of his time, and this ambivalence is probably the reflection of his conservative father's attitudes. The Symphony is strongly influenced by Schumann—most obviously in its combination of Romantic energy with Classical modalities—and is cast in a conventional four-movement structure, employing a rigidly applied sonata form for its opening movement. The themes, frequently doubled at the octave, are clearly defined but are also consistently repeated and lack variation: Brahms criticized the Symphony as being full of "thematic irrelevancies." Despite Brahms' objections, the work was well-received by critics at the time, who noted an originality absent from Strauss' earlier works, particularly in regard to its orchestration (perhaps the single greatest skill of this self-proclaimed "first-rate second-rate composer"; Strauss' virtuosity in manipulating the colors of the orchestra is notable even in his earliest student works). Texturally, the piece exhibits a typically Straussian polyphony; further, the composer's complete mastery and assimilation of traditional symphonic structure is clearly in evidence. Indeed, the Symphony in F Minor was the last such work Strauss would ever write using such strict formal constraints. Within two years of the completion of the Symphony, Strauss produced his first so-called "revolutionary" work, Aus Italien, a symphonic fantasy that represents a break from tradition and a shift toward a compositional idiom free from the dry intellectualism that characterizes much of his early work.

© All Music Guide

Portions of Content Provided by All Music Guide.
© 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. All Music Guide is a registered trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.