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Capriccio was the last contribution of, by then, nearly 80-year-old Richard Strauss to 20th-century musical theatre and from the very beginning intended for the Salzburg Festival. From a charming plan sketch by Stefan Zweig, the poet and librettist of "Die schweigsame Frau," driven out by the Nazis, Richard Strauss and his pupil and friend Clemens Krauss created a highly witty and elaborate late work, which, however, disconcerted the art observers for a long time. How could Richard Strauss, in the midst of World War II and the most brutal disregard for spiritual values, write a work that seemed to serve such an unimportant intellectual game, a genuine ‘art for art’s sake’? Yet it is precisely artistic thoughts relieved of all reality that give "Capriccio" its special place even within Strauss’s complete works.
The present recording from 1985 was already at the premiere an unequivocal success – a fact credited above all to Horst Stein and the Vienna Philharmonic and which led to numerous press headlines. With its markedly intellectual approach and its high musical standard, this festival performance drew a large audience to Salzburg over a total of three summers.
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