STRAUSS -
NATURALLY!
“We have only a small portion of art and knowledge which, with honest work, raises us above ourselves, and best of all we have - nature”
These are the words of Theodor Fontane, but they may as well have been said by Richard Strauss because this honest worker, the brilliant composer, who truly made his great humanist art to “raise us above ourselves”, was a lover of the best thing we have - nature!
Nature inspired him; it refreshed him. In nature he found respite from his exhausting work as a conductor in theatre and concert. He adored the nature he strolled through and rested in, the nature that surrounded his house at Garmisch, and not for nothing he built it in a landscape he loved so much. We have the good fortune of fully appreciating this aspect at the Richard-Strauss-Festival, because the beloved scenery, that pleased Strauss’s eye and took his breath away, remains unchanged today. It still surrounds the place where Strauss lived out his private, domestic life, which he filled with the great intuition of his music. It was in this music where the nature that moved its creator found its reflection. Richard Strauss and nature - it inspired him to give his very best. It will be performed in the concerts our festival has in store for you, our wonderful audience and friends of the great master!
So please let us welcome you to the wonder of nature and the home of Richard Strauss!
Prof. Dr. h.c. Ks. Brigitte Fassbaender