Richard Strauss | Autograph manuscript of his orchestration of the song "Nun hält Frau Minne Liebeswacht", 1898, unpublished in a critical edition

Richard Strauss.

Fine autograph manuscript signed of Strauss's orchestration of the song "Nun hält Frau Minne Liebeswacht", by his mentor Alexander Ritter, in a dedication binding for Ritter's daughters, UNPUBLISHED IN A MODERN CRITICAL EDITION

the full score for solo soprano and orchestra, including solo violin, notated in dark brown ink on up to twenty-one staves per page, the music diverging from Ritter's original in places, rehearsal numbers added in blue crayon, signed on the autograph title-page: "Nun hält Frau Minne Liebeswacht / (No. VIII der Liebesnächte)/ von / Alexander Ritter / Instrumentiert von RichardStrauss", and dated by Strauss at the end "München, 18. Januar 1898", a few autograph erasures and corrections

18 pages, folio (c.35 x 26.5cm), including title, paginated in pencil 1-17, blank leaf at end, 22-stave paper (B & H Nr. 13. C.), comprising two gatherings of two bifolia each at the beginning and end, and a single bifolium in the middle (pp.8-11), some later pencil annotations, dedication binding, half calf, gilt lettered ("Den lieben Ritter's / Das Sträusschen"), Munich, 18 January 1898, instrumental designations trimmed by the binder at the start, some staining to lower outer corners, consistent with use for performance by the composer, some wear to the binding, with upper hinge weak  

THIS IS AN AUTOGRAPH MANUSCRIPT OF A COMPLETE SCORE BY STRAUSS.

IT IS THE ONLY KNOWN MANUSCRIPT SOURCE FOR THIS WORK, UNPUBLISHED IN A CRITICAL EDITION.

This marvellously rich and expressive orchestration was made for a performance of Ritter's song for his concert with the German soprano Agnes Stavenhagen on 23 February 1891 (in a letter from Weimar dated 14 February 1891, Strauss informs his father that he must finish the piece by the 16th). Strauss's orchestral version does not follow the song strictly throughout, subtly remoulding Ritter's original piano score, with prominent parts for cor anglais, harp and solo violin. The future supreme master of the orchestral lied is clearly presaged here. Strauss makes a telling adjustment to Ritter's song on pages 7 to 9, introducing three new linking bars before "Vor den entzückten Sinnen" (bars 56-58 in Strauss's score), prolonging the harmony and allowing the score to breathe (similarly the closing chord of the work is extended by a further bar). The revision of this passage was perhaps made in 1898 (two years after Ritter's death), since the sequence of gathered bifolia is disrupted at this point, a single bifolium being inserted. This orchestration is 143 bars in all, four bars longer than Ritter's original song for piano and voice.

Alexander Ritter (1833-1896) published his Liebesnächte op.4, of which this is song no.8, for piano and voice in 1875. An ardent Wagnerian who married Wagner's niece Franziska in 1854, Ritter became second Kapellmeister under Hans von Bülow at Meiningen in 1882, where he encountered and supported the young Richard Strauss. Strauss later credited Ritter with introducing him to the music of Wagner, Liszt and Berlioz, and advising him on the subject of his first opera Guntram (over which they later fell out).  In 1886, Strauss was appointed a Kapellmeister at Munich, taking Ritter with him, and conducted Ritter's two operas there in 1891. That year, his symphonic poem Tod und Verklärung was published with Ritter's programmatic poem. 

The dedication of Strauss's song orchestration is on the binding to this manuscript (in gilt letterering): "Den lieben Ritter's"; this apparently refers to Alexander Ritter's three daughters Else, Julie and Hertha. 

PROVENANCE:

By descent from the dedicatees to the present owner.

LITERATURE:

Trenner 164; Mueller von Asow AV 188; RSQV ID q01026; michael-hofmeister.com/alexander-ritter-edition/ [web, accessed: 14 March 2025]