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Symphonic Metamorphoses on themes by Johann Strauss
Following in the footsteps of Schulz-Evler ("The Beautiful Blue Danube"), Tausig (Man lebt nur einmal) and Moriz Rosenthal's Strauss waltz arrangements, all of them barnstormers, Godowsky sought to outdo them all with his brilliant Strauss waltz arrangements. These were published by Cranz in 1912 (a faded copy was obtained from the NYC Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library). In 1920, Godowsky wrote: "Virtuosity as such is the least part of the Metamorphoses, and everything in them is developed out of Strauss' own music in an endeavor to build up a living, pulsing, colorful transformation of the simple original legitimately, by means of theme-inversion and theme development, rich and glorified instrumental counterpoint, imitation and embellishment. Hear Josef Hofmann play the Fledermaus symphonic metapmorphosis and you will understand why the term symphonic is used in the title of these free fantasies."
Kunstlerleben (An Artist's Life)
(4.3Mb, 22 pages)
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