The longest essay in The Satanic Scriptures by Peter H. Gilmore is Diabolus In Musica, an introduction to the sinister aspects of classical composers and orchestral works. Peter is a classically trained composer who graduated from NYU with a Bachelor’s and Master’s in music composition.

Diabolus in Musica begins with a short introductory paragraph, stating the authors love of bombastic music and instructing the reader that they might find the profiles of composers and lists of works to be rewarding and worthy of attention. We feature here just one of those profiles, that of Richard Strauss.

This is just one of 6 major profiles, and the essay also includes shorter series of profiles or significant works of fifty-five composers.

The Wikipedia links and Images are not included in the published version.

Richard Strauss: Celebrating Himself

Who could forget the thrilling opening music to Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey? Who hasn’t been moved by that sonic sunburst that Kubrick wisely used to herald the birth of conscious intelligence in Man’s ancestors, and underscored the first use of tools—a weapon, I might add? That magnificent fanfare was penned by Richard Strauss (1864-1949) as the opening for his tone poem Thus Spake Zarathustra, which was the composer’s effort at creating an audio equivalent to Nietzsche’s iconoclastic book.

Strauss was known in his youth as a radical modern, shocking the critics with his voluptuous music, whether it be purely symphonic or operatic. In his final years he was considered to be an aging reactionary, co-opted by the Nazis, and thus generally ignored by a world that had moved to embrace less human music, that had lost the ability to appreciate splendor and skill. To the modern listener, he appears as an artist that created works of great beauty overflowing with the joy and struggle of life.

Strauss actively rejected Christianity and its disgusting creed of self-sacrifice. He saw life as a heroic battle and himself as his own God. Thus, when he composed a tone poem called A Hero’s Life, one should not be surprised that he Satanically made it a self-portrait. In this, he depicts himself as a mighty life-embracing warrior, who enjoys a war against his critics—lampooned as the toads that they were, and who enjoyed his sensuous pleasures to the fullest.

He again celebrated himself and his family in the Domestic Symphony, a musical depiction of grandiose proportions that glorifies his home life with his wife and child. Though his detractors were always outraged at his self-glorification, they did not stand in the way of his fame, achieved at an early age as both a composer and conductor.

Strauss’ mastery of orchestration was second to none, and he created soundscapes that astonished audiences with the verisimilitude of their tone-painting. Listen to his Don Quixote, where he uses woodwind and brass trills to sound like a noisy herd of sheep. The storm segment of his An Alpine Symphony is one of the most violent and realistic in all music literature, complete with both a wind machine and thunder sheet. We’ll speak more of this piece.

As a young man, Strauss wrote Death and Transfiguration which depicts a man’s recollections of his very full life while on his deathbed. Here he likened life to a series of ever more magnificant strivings after one’s goals which are attained. Death is finally heralded by an ominous tam-tam stroke, yet the heroic spirit is not stopped, but soars on to self-glory. When he ultimately lay dying, Strauss claimed that it was just as he composed it years before.

His operas often caused scandals because Strauss was not afraid to embrace unbridled lust in Salome or poisonous vitriol in Elektra using surprising dissonance for the time to accompany lasciviousness and violence on stage. His later operas retreated into a more genteel but elaborately crafted style influenced by Mozartean grace, such as The Knight of the Rose and Capriccio.

This carnal philosophy of life permeated his work in all media, but it came most strongly to the fore in his mightiest tone poem, An Alpine Symphony. Ostensibly, this piece portrays a journey by a mountaineer, starting out in primal darkness, then greeted by another blazing sunrise, and continuing until he reaches the mountain’s summit, experiences an apocalyptic storm, and then descends to the final darkness of night. Strauss said that the true intent of the piece was a representation of Man’s appropriate existence. Here life is experienced as if it were a mountain to be conquered by dint of personal struggle, in heroic harmony with the magnificence of Nature. He clearly defined this as being in direct opposition to the Christian attitude towards life, and indeed the first title of this piece, which he later dropped, was Antichrist. You will find here an utterly Satanic embodiment of life. From out of the darkness, the rising theme of aspiration leads to a birth in triumph, a “yea saying” to the challenges before one. Next, life is launched with a vigorous assault on the universe that bears with it moments of astonishing beauty as well as bracing terror. In the end, death comes, but the ascending theme still struggles up out of the gathering darkness, expiring only in the final exhalation in a downward glissando into the night of non-existence, the Black Flame guttering out, but with the primal sounds of Nature still there to support the next hero to arise. No more Satanic a view of the human condition has been put into sound.

For the listener new to Strauss’ works, I recommend that you seek out recordings conducted by Herbert von Karajan and Karl Böhm, as these are superbly realized with just the right touch of virtuosity and violence. First, listen to the tone poems that have been mentioned in this article and if you enjoy them move on to his other orchestral and operatic works. There is an exquisitely melancholy work for string orchestra, Metamorphosen, which is a lament for the shattered culture of Germany at the close of World War II, which may move you with its direct emotional expression. Strauss’ music is rich and complex late romanticism which is decidedly passionate and totally Dionysian. Be prepared for the intricate textures, chromaticism, and detailed development of thematic material. At first, just let the sound sweep you along in its epic journey. Later, there is much more to appreciate structurally, if such is your inclination. Try listening to the rest of Thus Spake Zarathustra beyond the famed sunrise and you will be amazed at how much more wonderful music it contains, fulfilling the promise of those first few minutes. Yes, Strauss did conquer death, for by hearing his works you will feel his essence moving within you. And you too will be transfigured.