Welcome to "Intermezzo" — where we take a few minutes to bounce some ideas around about classical music.
Today we explore the background to a mischievous masterpiece, "Till Eulenspiegle's Merry Pranks" by Richard Strauss.
Till Eulenspiegel is a rascal of a character from German folklore and composer Richard Strauss captures his "merry pranks" with sound.
Richard Strauss uses "leitmotifs" — musical gestures and themes — to represent characters like Eulenspiegel and those he plays pranks on.
Eulenspiegel was a both a nuisance and a folk hero. He played pranks on doctors and priests and often mocked Medieval rulers. Some say he lived around 1300, although his stories didn’t show up in literature until 200 years later.
The name Eulenspiegel literally means “owl mirror,” after an old proverb that says: “Man sees his own faults as little as a monkey or an owl recognizes his ugliness in looking into a mirror.”
Real or not, we can laugh at him and learn from him. His stories are lessons on where troublemaking can lead you and also a peek into Medieval lifestyles.
If you want to hear more music that uses leitmotifs, you could always listen to Wagner operas or James Bond film scores.
John Williams uses many leitmotifs in his movie scores, including the score to Harry Potter where "Hedwig's Theme" appears throughout.
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Christy L'Esperance is the host and producer of Intermezzo.
Scott Clemens is IPR's Digital Content Producer.
