Strauss by moonlight

I get in under the wire to observe Richard Strauss' birthday. Here I love Richard Strauss and write about him all the time and yet I am going around all day, la la la la la, without realizing June 11 is his birthday.

I just cannot retain a lot of people's birthdays. I have too much going on in my life.

Es tut mir leid, Herr Doktor Strauss. That means I am sorry. I remember that from German class.

That is a picture up above of Strauss that I love, where he has an Afro and looks like a rocker.

There is so much of Strauss I love. I love anything by Strauss. Here is the "Moonlight Music" from "Capriccio." I first heard this on piano because being a nerd when I was a teenager, I had a vinyl copy of "Kraemerspiegel," this song cycle it was originally from. I loved it right away without knowing this part of it was famous and he had reused it later. I used to play it all the time.

This is what I love about having a Web log! It is all about me!

 

 Here is a Richard Strauss song I love, "Heimliche Aufforderung." Only the Germans could come up with a romantic song like this, so sensual, so seductive, and call it "Heimliche Aufforderung." I am telling you.

No one can sing this song like Nicolai Gedda. This is the greatest.



"And weave the splendor of roses into your hair ... Oh, come, you wonderful, longed-for night!!"

I will never forget listening to that when I was 17.

Let's try Jonas Kaufmann.

 

Close ... but no cigar. You must be Nicolai Gedda to sing this song, I am sorry. Other singers need not apply.

The great, great Nicolai Gedda is still among us. He was born in 1925 and his birthday is a month from today.

We must remember to observe it! We should all get together and get Nicolai Gedda trending on Twitter and on Yahoo.

Meanwhile, a toast to Richard Strauss.

What smoldering music he wrote.