How Did Franz Strauss Influence In His Work?

Strauss was born on 11 June 1864 in Munich. He is the son of Josephine and Franz Strauss.

In his youth, he received a thorough musical education from his father.

He wrote his first composition at the age of six and continued to write music almost until his death.

In 1883 He went to Berlin, where he secured a post as assistant conductor to Hans von Bülow, who had been enormously impressed by the young composer 's talent. Strauss learned the art of conducting by observing Bülow in rehearsal. Bülow was very fond of the young man and decided that Strauss should be his successor as conductor of the Meiningen Court Orchestra when Bülow resigned in 1885.

Strauss married soprano Pauline de Ahna on 10 September 1894. The Strausses had one son, Franz, in 1897.

Throughout his life, he preferred the soprano voice to all others, and

Much of Strauss 's motivation in his conduct during the Third Reich was, however, to protect his Jewish daughter-in-law Alice and his Jewish grandchildren from persecution. Both of his grandsons were bullied at school, but Strauss used his considerable influence to prevent the boys or their mother being sent to concentration camps.

In 1938, when the entire nation was preparing for war, Strauss created Friedenstag (Peace Day), a one-act opera set in a besieged fortress during the Thirty Years ' War. The work is essentially a hymn to peace and a thinly veiled criticism of the Third Reich. Productions of the opera ceased shortly after the outbreak of war in 1939.

When his Jewish daughter-in-law Alice was placed under house arrest in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1938, Strauss used his connections in Berlin, to secure her safety. He drove to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in order to argue, albeit unsuccessfully, for the release of his son Franz 's Jewish mother-in-law, Marie von Grab. Strauss also wrote several letters to the SS pleading for the release of her children who were also held in camps; his letters were unfortunately