hild's, a moustache so fair that it is nearly white, and curly hair
growing like a crown above his high round forehead.

I should like to try to sketch here the strange and arresting
personality of the man who in Germany is considered the inheritor of
Wagner's genius--the man who has had the audacity to write, after
Beethoven, an Heroic Symphony, and to imagine himself the hero.

* * * * *

Richard Strauss is thirty-four years old.[167] He was born in Munich on
11 June, 1864. His father, a well-known virtuoso, was first horn in the
Royal orchestra, and his mother was a daughter of the brewer Pschorr. He
was brought up among musical surroundings. At four years old he played
the piano, and at six he composed little dances, _Lieder_, sonatas, and
even overtures for the orchestra. Perhaps this extreme artistic
precocity has had something to do with the feverish character of his
talents, by keeping his nerves in a state of tension and unduly exciting
his mind. At school he composed choruses for some of Sophocles'
tragedies. In 1881, Hermann Levi had one of the young collegian's
symphonies performed by his orchestra. At the University he spent his
time in writing instrumental music. Then Buelow and Radecke made him play
in Berlin; and Buelow, who became very fond of him, had him brought to
Meiningen as _Musikdirector_. From 1886 to 1889 he held the same post at
the _Hoftheater_ in Munich. From 1889 to 1894 he was _Kapellmeister_ at
the _Hoftheater_ in Weimar. He returned to Munich in 1894 as
_Hofkapellmeister_, and in 1897 succeeded Hermann Levi. Finally, he left
Munich for Berlin, where at present he conducts the orchestra of the
Royal Opera.

[Footnote 167: This essay was written in 1899.]

Two things should be particularly noted in his life: the influence of
Alexander Ritter--to whom he has shown much gratitude--and his travels
in the south of Europe. He made Ritter's acquaintance in 1885. This
musician was a nephew of Wagner's, and died some years ago. His music is
practically unknown in France, though he wrote two well-known operas,
_Fauler Hans_ and _Wem die Krone_? and was the first composer, according
to Strauss, to introduce Wagnerian methods into the _Lied_. He is often
discussed in Buelow's and Liszt's letters. "Before I met him," says
Strauss, "I had been brought up on strictly classical lines; I had lived
entirely on Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, and had just been studying
Mend