Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche Richard Strauss / Arr. Erik Somers

Titel / Title: Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche
Untertitel / Subtitle: Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks
Herausgeber / Publisher: Baton Music
Instrumentation: concert band
Produkttyp / Product: Partitur + Stimmen
Serie / Series: Baton Music orchestral series

Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche Op. 28 (Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks), is a tone poem written in 1894 and 1895 by Richard Strauss. It chronicles the misadventures and pranks of the German peasant folk hero Till Eulenspiegel, who is represented by two themes. The first, played by the horn, is a lilting melody that reaches a peak, falls downward, and ends in three long, loud notes, each progressively lower. The second, played by the clarinet, is crafty and wheedling, suggesting a trickster doing what he does best. The music follows Till throughout the countryside, as he rides a horse through a market, upsetting the goods and wares, pokes fun at the strict Teutonic clergy, flirts with and chases girls, and mocks the serious academics. In the end Till has been captured by the authorities, and is sentenced to death. The progress of Till being hauled up the gallows is graphically painted by the clarinet, with the anticipatory drumroll emulated by the flutes after he has reached the top. After a moment of silence, the 'once upon a time' theme heard at the beginning returns, suggesting that someone like Till can never be destroyed, and the work ends with one last quotation of the musical joke.