Program notes
A documentary establishing a correlation between Richard Strauss's female creations for the stage and the women in his life.
Richard Strauss is one of the composers who managed to express feminine emotions with the best accuracy. From his wife Pauline to his daughter-in-law Alice, without forgetting his most beloved heroines Salome, Elektra, the Marschallin, the Dyer's Wife or Danae, this short film examines Strauss's relationship to women through different epochs, from the Empire to Hitler's dictatorship and the post-war period. Did these changings influence Strauss in the way he saw women, just like the image of women changed with time?
His grandson Christian Strauss is filmed at the villa in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and tells stories and anecdotes about his grandfather, surrounded by the composer's personal objects.
The film ends with Renée Fleming singing an excerpt from his final song, Im abendrot.