Three important orchestral works, including very popular Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, reproduced in full score from original editions. This volume and its companion volume make available for the first time in convenient, inexpensive editions all the important Strauss tone poems. Study score.

A group of resourceful kids start "solution-seekers.com," a website where "cybervisitors" can get answers to questions that trouble them. But when one questioner asks the true meaning of Christmas, the kids seek to unravel the mystery by journeying back through the prophecies of the Old Testament. What they find is a series of "S" words that reveal a "spectacular story " With creative characters, humorous dialogue and great music, The "S" Files is a children's Christmas musical your kids will love performing.

Inexpensive edition reprinted directly from original Fürstner (1911) edition of vocal score. Verbal text, vocal line and piano "reduction."

The graceful, sophisticated waltz music from Strauss's classic opera has been tastefully transcribed for violin and piano.

Written in 1927, Arabella is a portrait - partly romanticized, partly factual - of Habsburg Vienna in the 1860s. It is also a celebration of the profound importance of courage and the ability to forgive in love. Our sympathies are not only drawn to Arabella, who waits for "the right man" to come, but to her younger sister, who breaks with conventional morality in the cause of her love. This opera is a moving testament to Hugo von Hofmannsthal, who died before it was completed, and it remains one of the best-loved products of his twenty-five- year collaboration with Strauss. Contents: The Edge of the Cliff, Michael Ratcliffe; A Musical Synopsis, William Mann; A Profound Simplicity, Patrick J. Smith; Hofmannsthal's Last Libretto, Karen Forsyth; Arabella: Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal; Arabella: English translation by John Gutman

Der Rosenkavalier has one of the longest and most exquisitely crafted texts of all opera. The depth and subtlety of the characterization can only be appreciated after a careful reading. Derrick Puffett notes that the sentimentality and parody of the subject perfectly matched Strauss's genius. Michael Kennedy's detailed musical commentary shows how the large orchestra is handled with exceptional skill. Peter Branscombe points out that Hofmannsthal set a new standard of libretto-writing and shows how the ideas in Der Rosenkavalier may be traced to his other works for the stage, in his prose and poetry. Contents: An Introduction to 'Der Rosenkavalier', Derrick Puffett; Comedy for Music, Michael Kennedy; Hugo von Hofinannsthal - Man of Letters, Peter Branscombe; Der Rosenkavalier: Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal; Der Rosenkavalier: English translation by Alfred Kalisch

Richard Strauss turned his genius to opera at the turn of the twentieth century, and this guide contains the texts and introductions to his first two masterpieces in what was, for him, a new genre. Despite obvious similarities - both operas consisting of one act, centred upon one female title role - the works are quite different in subject and treatment. Salome, based on Oscar Wilde's notorious play, has a kaleidoscopic range of orchestral colour and a lurid climax. Elektra, derived from the myths of the ancient Greeks and the first collaboration between Strauss and Hofmannsthal, is a study in neurosis, ripe for Jungian comparative analysis. Contents: Richard Strauss and the Unveiling of 'Salome', Paul Banks; Salome: Libretto by Hedwig Lachmann; Salome: English translation by Tom Hammond; Hofmannsthal's 'Elektra': from Drama to Libretto, Kenneth Segar; Elektra and the 'Elektra Complex', Christopher Wintle; Elektra: Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal; Elektra: English translation by Anthony Hose; Strauss's Orchestra in 'Salome' and 'Elektra', Jonathan Burton

Andris Nelsons conducts the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in this collection featuring two performances of Strauss's works, 'Also Sprach Zarathustra', recorded in 2013, and 'Till Eulenspiegel', recorded in 2014.