Richard Strauss, An Alpine Symphony

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The Alpine Symphony (Eine Alpensinfonie) is one of Strauss' largest non-operatic conceptions, and the composer himself considered it his best-wrought work in terms of its orchestration. Despite its title, it is not a symphony in the generally accepted sense of the word. It is a "tone poem," a musical form which Strauss specialised in for about 20 years of his life.

The German author and Strauss specialist Habakuk Traber explains the concept of the work and the story behind: a story of a human life, with its jollity, its fear, its glory, beginning and ending in darkness.