Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony), Op. 64, is a large symphonic poem^[1] composed by Richard Strauss between 1911 and 1915. A typical performance entails upwards of forty-five minutes of continuous music. It depicts a full-day excursion on a mountain in the Bavarian Alps, recalling in vivid orchestral expression the composer's own experiences hiking at age fourteen. Strauss dedicated the work to Count Nicolaus Seebach and the Royal Kapelle (Orchestra) in Dresden, the ensemble which gave the premiere in 1915. A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, in one movement, in which some extra-musical programme provides a narrative or illustrative element. ... This article is about the German composer of tone-poems and operas. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Brühls Terrace and the Frauenkirche Dresden [ˈdreːsdn̩] (Sorbian/Lusatian Drježdźany), the capital city of the German federal state of Saxony, is situated in a valley on the river Elbe. ...

Instrumentation

The Alpine Symphony is one of Strauss’ largest non-operatic conceptions, and the composer himself considered it his best-wrought work in terms of its orchestration. The instrumentation is as follows:

• Woodwinds:
  • 4 flutes (2 doubling piccolos)
  • 3 oboes (1 doubling English horn), and heckelphone
  • 1 E-flat clarinet, 2 B-flat clarinets, 1 C clarinet (doubling B-flat bass clarinet)
  • 4 bassoons (1 doubling contrabassoon)
• Brass:
  • 8 French horns (4 doubling Wagner tubas)
  • 4 trumpets
  • 4 trombones
  • 2 bass tubas
  • Offstage: 4 horns, 2 trumpets and 2 trombones
• Timpani (requiring two players)
• Percussion (requiring a total of three players):
  • glockenspiel, cymbals, bass drum, side drum, triangle, cowbells, tamtam, wind machine and thunder machine
• Celesta
• Pipe organ

• Strings:
  • 2 Harps
  • 18 1st violins
  • 16 2nd violins
  • 12 violas
  • 10 cellos
  • 8 double basses

The stipulated forces (including the offstage brass) thus total 123 players. The composer further suggested that the harps and some woodwind instruments should be doubled if possible, and indicated that the stated number of string players should be regarded as a minimum. The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. ... The piccolo is a small flute. ... The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. ... Cor anglais The cor anglais or English horn is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. ... Heckelphone The heckelphone is a musical instrument invented by Wilhelm Heckel and his sons, introduced in 1904. ... Eâ™­ clarinet with Oehler system keywork. ... Two soprano clarinets: a Bâ™­ clarinet (left, with capped mouthpiece) and an A clarinet (right, with no mouthpiece). ... The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. ... The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that plays in the tenor range and below. ... This is a contrabassoon. ... The horn is a brass instrument consisting of tubing wrapped into a coiled form. ... A Wagner tuba. ... For Trumpet Winsock, see Winsock. ... The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. ... The tuba is one of the largest of low-brass instruments and is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the ophicleide. ... A timpanist in the United States Air Forces in Europe Band. ... Percussion instruments are played by being struck, shaken, rubbed or scraped. ... Most orchestral glockenspiels are mounted in a case. ... It is also possible that you want to know about the Cymbalum instrument. ... A bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. ... The snare drum or side drum is a tubular drum made of wood or metal with skins, or heads, stretched over the top and bottom openings. ... An old-fashioned triangle, with wand (beater) Angelika Kauffmann: LAllegra, 1779 The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the percussion family. ... The cowbell is a percussion instrument. ... A gong is any one of a wide variety of metal percussion instruments. ... A vertical wind tunnel (VWT) is a wind tunnel which moves air up in a vertical column. ... French type, four-octave Celesta The Celesta (IPA ) is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. ... Organ in Katharinenkirche, Frankfurt am Main, Germany The organ is a keyboard instrument played using one or more manuals and a pedalboard. ... The harp is a stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. ... The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. ... The viola (in French, alto; in German Bratsche) is a string instrument played with a bow. ... The violoncello, almost always abbreviated to cello, or cello (the c is pronounced as the ch in cheese), is a bowed stringed instrument, the lowest-sounding member of the violin family. ... Side and front views of a modern double bass with a French bow. ...

The use of Samuel's Aerophone is prescribed in the orchestration notes along with the instrumentation. This device, invented by Belgian flautist Bernhard Samuel in 1912, is a bellows operated by a foot pedal with an air hose attached to the mouthpiece of woodwind instruments and aids the player to sustain long notes without interruption.

Such use of contemporary instrumentation combined with the vast resources needed for this work might better reflect Strauss' style of expanding the orchestra beyond the style more closely associated with the Romantic period and into the Modern period. The era of Romantic music is defined as the period of European classical music that runs roughly from the early 1800s to the first decade of the 20th century, as well as music written according to the norms and styles of that period. ... Modernism in musicis characterized by a desire for or belief in progressand science, surrealism, anti-romanticism, politicaladvocacy, general intellectualism, and/or a breaking with tradition or common practice. ...

=D =D =D

Program

Although performed as one continuous movement, the Alpine Symphony has a distinct program which describes each phase of the Alpine journey in chronological order. The score includes the following section titles (without numbers):

1. Nacht (Night)
2. Sonnenaufgang (Sunrise)
3. Der Anstieg (the Ascent)
4. Eintritt in den Wald (Entry into the Woods)
5. Wanderung neben dem Bache (Walking along the Brook)
6. Am Wasserfall (at the Waterfall)
7. Erscheinung (a Visual Feature)
8. Auf blumigen Wiesen (on Flowery Meadows)
9. Auf der Alm (on the Pasture)
10. Durch Dickicht und Gestrüpp auf Irrwegen (Wrong Path through the Thicket)
11. Auf dem Gletscher (on the Glacier)
12. Gefahrvolle Augenblicke (Moments of Danger)
13. Auf dem Gipfel (at the Summit)
14. Vision (Vision)
15. Nebel steigen auf (the Fog Rises)
16. Die Sonne verdüstert sich allmählich (the Sun is Gradually Obscured)
17. Elegie (Elegy)
18. Stille von dem Sturm (Calm before the Storm)
19. Gewitter und Sturm, Abstieg (Thunder and storm, Descent)
20. Sonnenuntergang (Sunset)
21. Ausklang (the Journey Ends)
22. Nacht (Night)

Eine Alpensinfonie represents a striking example of a program symphony, where each concept, idea, or experience is given a distinct Leitmotif. Additionally, the work uses vivid musical imagery to tell its story - especially during the thunderstorm sequence - and for this reason can be compared to Paul Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice or many of Richard Wagner's operas. Strauss makes use of distinctly Bavarian musical themes, yet he also employs the more modern technique of polytonality (for example, the introduction has the entire string section sustaining all seven notes of the B-flat minor scale simultaneously). This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Glacial and Glaciation redirect here. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Paul Dukas (October 1, 1865-May 17, 1935) was a Parisian-born French composer and teacher of classical music. ... The Sorcerers Apprentice is the English name of both an 1897 symphonic poem by Paul Dukas (Lapprenti sorcier in French), and of a 1797 ballad by Goethe (Der Zauberlehrling in German), which inspired the musical work. ... Wilhelm Richard Wagner (May 22, 1813 – February 13, 1883) was a German composer, conductor, music theorist, and essayist, primarily known for his operas (or music dramas as he later came to call them). ... The geographic region and Free State of Bavaria (German:  ), with an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and 12. ... The musical use of more than one key simultaneously is polytonality. ... B-flat minor is a minor scale based on B-flat, consisting of the pitches B-flat, C, D-flat, E-flat, F, G-flat, A-flat and B-flat (natural minor scale). ...

Although many critics have regarded the work as simply descriptive rather than "philosophical" in the manner of Also Sprach Zarathustra, Strauss himself seems to have viewed it otherwise; writing shortly after he learned of Mahler's death, he expressed the intent of calling it The Antichrist, for "in it there is: moral purification through one's own strength, liberation through work, and the worship of eternal, glorious nature."

Premieres

• World Premiere: 28 October 1915, Berlin, Dresden Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer.
• American Premiere: 26 October 1916, New York City, New York Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Josef Stransky.<33

Location of Berlin within Germany / EU Coordinates Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) Administration Country NUTS Region DE3 City subdivisions 12 boroughs Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit (SPD) Governing parties SPD / Left. ... Nickname: Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1625 Government  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area  - City  468. ... The New York Philharmonic is the oldest active symphony orchestra in the United States. ...

Discography

Trivia

The symphony was the first ever work to be released on CD, recorded by Herbert von Karajan for Deutsche Grammophon CD may stand for: Compact Disc Canadian Forces Decoration Cash Dispenser (at least used in Japan) CD LPMud Driver Centrum-Demokraterne (Centre Democrats of Denmark) Certificate of Deposit České Dráhy (Czech Railways) Chad (NATO country code) Chalmers Datorförening (computer club of the Chalmers University of Technology) a 1960s... Herbert von Karajan (April 5, 1908 – July 16, 1989) was an Austrian conductor. ... Logo Deutsche Grammophon is a German record label. ...

Note

^  While not a symphony in the strict classical sense, the work does contain many important elements of symphonic form. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...