Active Years: 1864-1949

Position: Composer and Conductor

Career Highlights: Salome, Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier, Ariadne auf Naxos, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Arabella, Daphne, Capriccio.

Career Totals: 15 operas, several orchestral tone poems, songs, instrumental works.

Scouting Report: An infant prodigy in Germany, Strauss’s early orchestral tone poems established him as a leading modernist for his harmonic experimentation and orchestration, the latter making him one of the most brilliant exponents in musical history. Known as a disciple of Wagner, Strauss’s first operatic experiments brought little success, but with the introduction of psychologically dark and Freudian themes in Elektra, he established himself as a composer of original talent and daring. It has been suggested, however, that his work was driven out of popular tastes rather than artistic expression. His lyric and neo-classical Der Rosenkavalier, was inspired by his love for Mozart and is his most popular work.

Teammates and Contemporaries: Librettist: Hugo von Hofmannsthal; Composers: Rachmaninoff, Puccini, Stravinsky, Milhaud, Schonberg, Berg, Vaughn-Williams, Prokofiev, Janecek.

Fun Statistic: Strauss, known for bringing unbridled erotism to the operatic stage, conducted the first performance of Humperdinck’s fairytale-opera Hansel und Gretel.