On June 11, 1864, Richard Strauss was born. Richard's father, Franz, was a main horn player who provided him with a good musical education. At the age of six, the youngster composed his first composition. Benno Walter, his father's cousin, began teaching him the violin at the Royal School of Music in 1872.¹⁾

In 1874, Richard Strauss heard his first Wagner operas, Lohengrin and Tannhäuser. Initially, his father forbade the boy from learning Wagner's music. Richard did not receive a Tristan und Isolde score until he was 16 years old. Wagner's music had a significant influence on his musical growth.²⁾

Strauss's early compositions were conservative, but they began to expand and alter when he met Alexander Ritter, a composer and violinist who was married to one of Wagner's nieces. Ritter convinced Strauss to leave his youthful musical approach and begin creating tone poems.³⁾

Strauss premiered his Violin Concerto in D minor in Vienna in early 1882, performing a piano version of the orchestral portion himself, with his cousin and tutor Benno Walter as soloist. Despite being created in the romantic vein of the time, it is a daring and imaginative composition in which Strauss expresses his admiration for Mozart and Beethoven.⁴⁾

Strauss rose to prominence as a horn champion as a result of his father's influence. His first Horn Concerto, written in the style of Schumann and Mendelssohn, is still a standard in the modern horn repertoire. Strauss is shown here in August 1932, leading a program in Munich that was carried to all German radio stations.⁵⁾

On September 10, 1894, Strauss married singer Pauline de Ahna. She was well-known for being tough and quirky, but the marriage was generally joyful, and she was a major source of inspiration for him. In 1950, she died barely eight months after him.⁶⁾