The current volume of the edition of the Critical Edition of Richard Strauss Works gives us an insight into this world of a composer’s early life and works. The chamber music works for one string instrument and piano (violin/piano and violoncello/piano) composed by the young musician between the ages of fifteen and twenty-three are published in this volume which is augmented with and contrasted by a very brief ‘off-the-cuff exercise’, an Allegretto written by the eighty-four-year-old Strauss returning to ‘free’ instrumental music towards the end of his compositional career. A fragmentary Moderato included as a facsimile in the volume shows an utterly childlike attempt at composition by a nine-year-old, at least already ambitiously scored for violin and piano, and a five-voice fugue (1880), probably also intended for performance by violin and piano, provides an impression of the budding musician’s contrapuntal ambitions. The mainstays and highlights of the volume due to the strength of their artistic integrity are the Sonata (op. 6) for piano and violoncello in two versions – the original version as yet unpublished – and the Sonata (op. 18) for piano and violin which slipped in as a ‘latecomer’ into a compositional period with an utterly different focus. Both these works succeeded in establishing themselves firmly into the range of favourite concert repertoire right from the start and have retained their popularity up to the present day.

Alongside the practical significance of a new critically edited and augmented definitive musical edition for performance, the current volume is equally suitable and welcome as an invitation to reconsider the early compositional period of a young composer who would very soon create a genuine sensation with his tone poems.

From the Foreword by Reinhold Schlötterer

The edition Richard Strauss Works · Critical Edition (RSW) is the first scholarly critical edition of Richard Strauss’s complete musical oeuvre. Up until now, the majority of his compositions have been available only in largely uncorrected reprints of older publications. In the new edition, all compositions in major genres – the complete stage works, orchestral works, lieder and songs, and chamber music – are newly edited and published in 64 volumes. The edition also incorporates different versions and fragments alongside a documentation of the sources, the genesis of individual works, and performance variations authorised by the composer. The edition consists of printed musical volumes with integrated critical reports and is augmented by an online platform featuring text comparisons and annotated collections of documents. The extensive introductions and footnotes are written in German and English.

Members of the Honorary Board: S. K. H. Franz Herzog von Bayern, Renée Fleming, Mariss Jansons (†), Prof. Dr. Peter Ruzicka, Prof. Dr. Alexander Strauss, Dr. Christian Strauss (†), Christian Thielemann

5 Facts about the edition:
*The first scholarly edition of the works of Richard Strauss
*Issued by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Munich under the direction of Hartmut Schick in cooperation with the Richard Strauss Institute in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Work undertaken in the Richard Strauss Edition Research Centre at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich.
*The first volumes – Macbeth, Lieder Op. 10–29 and Don Juan – have been issued in April 2017.
*Critical reports are included in each volume; text comparisons and annotated collections of documents are available in digital form.
*Performance material to accompany the edition is in preparation.