A masterpiece by Richard Strauss. Popular classical music.

Richard Strauss is a composer who represents the German late Romantic period.

Strauss’s representative work, the symphonic poem Thus Spoke Zarathustra, is known as the theme music for the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

His symphonic poems Macbeth and Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks are also frequently performed by wind ensembles, making him a familiar composer to many wind band musicians.

In his early period, under the influence of his father, Strauss wrote many works that adhered to classical styles like those of Mozart and Schumann.

After meeting Alexander Ritter—who married one of Wagner’s nieces—he began composing more innovative works.

Here, I will introduce pieces that let you enjoy both Strauss’s classical side and his transformation into a master of the symphonic poem.

Listening in chronological order makes it easier to appreciate the changes in his style, so I hope you’ll keep the period of composition in mind as you listen.