What does Alessandra Marc and Richard Strauss have in common?
Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include "Der Rosenkavalier", "Elektra", "Die Frau ohne Schatten" and "Salome"; his Lieder, especially his "Four Last Songs"; his tone poems, including "Don Juan", "Death and Transfiguration", "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks", "Also sprach Zarathustra", "Ein Heldenleben", "Symphonia Domestica", and "An Alpine Symphony"; and other instrumental works such as "Metamorphosen" and his Oboe Concerto. Strauss was also a prominent conductor in Western Europe and the Americas, enjoying quasi-celebrity status as his compositions became standards of orchestral and operatic repertoire.
Tone poems (Strauss) The tone poems of Richard Strauss are noted as the high point of program music in the latter part of the 19th century, extending its boundaries and taking the concept of realism in music to an unprecedented level. In these works, he widened the expressive range of music while depicting subjects many times thought unsuitable for musical depiction. As Hugh MacDonald points out in the "New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians", "In the years prior to World War I these works were held to be in the vanguard of modernism."