Notes for: August 9, 2016
The full title of this work is Till Eulenspiegel (Another Way) Arranged as a Frolic for Five Instruments by Franz Hasenöhrl. It can be viewed, according to one analyst, as a “practical joke about a famous practical joker.” Even “Hasenöhrl” is a pseudonym meaning “Bunny Ears.”
In 1894, for one of his symphonic poems, Strauss chose a medieval German peasant practical joker named Till Eulenspiegel (in English, Tyl Owlglass). Till was born about 1300 in the town of Schoppenstedt, which has a small museum dedicated to him. He died in 1350 in Molin, Schleswig-Holstein, where his tombstone is still shown to visitors. According to numerous folktales, Till was always in trouble because of his pranks and jests, but was able to escape physical punishment. At first, Till’s jests were low humor, and the butts of his jokes were typically innkeepers and other trades people. He would upset the stalls of the market women, disguise himself as a priest to fleece merchants, and flirt with women.
Later, Till’s adventures became more serious: a peasant’s revenge on condescending and arrogant townsmen, clergy and nobility. Till’s exploits anticipated the Romantic notion that the individual can triumph over conservative society. This idea appealed to Strauss – he approached his tone poem as a musical self-portrait, an allegory of his own efforts to affront the musical philistines of his day.
Strauss subtitled his tone poem “After the Old Roguish Manner — in Rondo Form.” Beyond that, he was reluctant to connect particular passages in the music with Till’s specific adventures. However, Strauss did leave a few marginal hints about the story line. In the quiet opening, he scribbled, “Once upon a time there was a clowning rogue,” and over the horn theme that follows, “whose name was Till Eulenspiegel.” He also left other clues that provide a more graphic scenario for the music.
In one passage, we hear Till riding on horseback through the market, scattering pots and pans and causing general chaos. In another, he appears disguised as a priest, oozing “unction and morality.” In still another, he dresses as a gallant and “exchanges dainty courtesies with pretty girls.” Later, he mocks his enemies and strolls away jauntily whistling a street tune. Finally, we hear a low drum roll as Till is brought to trial for blasphemy, and he is condemned to be hanged. But Till is not forgotten. After the hanging, the fairy-tale opening theme returns to assure us of Till’s immortality.
Hasenörhl, who made the transcription we hear this evening, was an Austrian composer who lived from 1885 to 1970, and spent most of his professional career as a professor of music at the University of Vienna. He was a prolific composer of symphonies, concertos, and chamber, keyboard, vocal and choral music, but is known today mostly for this tongue-in-cheek “frolic,” published in 1954.
With skill and ingenuity, Hasenörhl reduced Strauss’s mammoth orchestra to an ensemble of five –violin, clarinet, horn, bassoon and double bass. Thus, 16 first and 16 second violins were reduced to a single violin. The double bass was used as a substitute for the entire percussion section. The musical content, although somewhat reduced, retains the sweep and flow of the original orchestration.