November 29 - December 4: Listening Assignment (remember that listening assignments apply to the weeks during which the listening is assigned.)

Richard Strauss

• Read this article about Strass: http://www.dsokids.com/listen/by-composer/richard-strauss.aspx
• Listen to the two excerpts and pronunciation of his name and say the latter it three times out loud. 
• What era did he compose in (Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Contemporary)?
• What are three things you learned from his biography that you liked?
• Please watch the tone poem by Richard Strauss: Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYSkfgsL_BE

Music notes to help you understand this incredible tone poem:

The music depicts the death of an artist. At Strauss's request, this was described in a poem by the composer's friend Alexander Ritter as an interpretation of Death and Transfiguration, after it was composed. As the man lies dying, thoughts of his life pass through his head: his childhood innocence, the struggles of his manhood, the attainment of his worldly goals; and at the end, he receives the longed-for transfiguration "from the infinite reaches of heaven".

Just before his own death, Strauss remarked that his music was absolutely correct; his feelings mirrored those of the artist depicted within; Strauss said to his daughter-in-law as he lay on his deathbed in 1949: "It's a funny thing, Alice, dying is just the way I composed it in Tod und Verklärung.