Richard Strauss

Richard Georg Strauss was a German composer and conductor who lived from 1864 to 1949 and became a leading figure of the late Romantic and early modern era, known for his tone poems and operas. His tone poems include Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Also sprach Zarathustra and An Alpine Symphony, and his operas include Salome, Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier and Ariadne auf Naxos, works that became standards of the orchestral and operatic repertoire. He held major conducting posts including the Berlin State Opera and Vienna State Opera, and during the Nazi era he accepted official appointments partly in an effort to protect his Jewish daughter-in-law and to preserve banned composers' works.