{"id":120,"date":"2017-07-18T08:14:14","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T08:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/levin\/?p=120"},"modified":"2017-08-18T16:18:29","modified_gmt":"2017-08-18T16:18:29","slug":"richard-strauss-and-the-levin-familys-connection-to-a-famous-composer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/levin\/2017\/07\/18\/richard-strauss-and-the-levin-familys-connection-to-a-famous-composer\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Strauss and The Levin family\u2019s connection to a famous composer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ernst Levin maintained a strong personal interest in famous German composer Richard Strauss <\/a>even in his old age. Correspondence implies that Strauss was a friend to the prominent Levins, Ernst\u2019s parents Natalie and Willy. His opera \u2018Elektra<\/a>\u2019 was dedicated to them, and many assume that Strauss based some of his characters on Willy Levin (see post on \u2018The Levins<\/a>\u2019). \u00a0Strauss was later publicly condemned as an anti-Semite due to the seemingly \u2018collaborative\u2019 and prominent role he held as president of the State Music Bureau<\/a>, established in 1933 under the Third Reich. It has been claimed that\u00a0Strauss collaborated out of necessity to protect his Jewish grandchildren, as his son had married a Jewish woman. Ernst, claiming to have \u2018personally known\u2019 Strauss, frequently made moves to defend his good character.<\/p>\n

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Letter from Ernst to Mr Black denying Strauss\u2019s anti-Semitism:<\/u><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

24th<\/sup> February 1969:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI thank you very much for your recent letter with your commentary about Richard Strauss\u2019s supposed anti-Semitic activities and the quotations from the new Life of Richard Strauss. It is very generous of you to offer me a copy of this new biography, but I possess it since it was first published in this country and have read it with interest from the first to the last page. Before one labels anyone an anti-Semite it is well to remember that this entirely depends on what you mean by it. Personally \u2013 after a lifetime of friendship with Richard Strauss \u2013 and with his wife Paulina \u2013 I deny that he was an anti-Semite\u201d<\/p>\n

Letter to Ruth about talks with BBC concerning Strauss<\/u><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

12th<\/sup> May 1968:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI have seen Hans Gal at the club yesterday. He was very nice and very patient when I put my problem of Richard Strauss reminiscences before him. \/He feels I should go through with the talk on the BBC in all circumstances in spite of the new Life published recently. He also seemed to agree with you that our first plan of the talk in the form of (your) questions and (my) answers is not a very good one. \/You were also right in assuming he is no longer on the festival council and as a matter of fact can now do very little as regards the Scottish BBC\u2019s attitude to such a talk of mine\u201d<\/p>\n

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Letter to Austrian State Opera, enquiring about copyright of Strauss photograph printed in The Times<\/u><\/p>\n

20th<\/sup> March 1964:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis photograph does not belong to the Opera\u2019s public collection or copyright photographs\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ernst later wrote to The Times newspaper requesting a larger print of the image due to his\u00a0great personal interest in Richard Strauss.<\/p>\n

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Ernst wrote in a disgruntled tone to Radio 4 on the 3rd<\/sup>\u00a0October 1975<\/strong>, complaining about the introduction of a new \u2018signature tune\u2019 which he deemed \u201ccoarse, alarming and altogether deplorable\u201d. He substantiates his view by claiming a substantial musical education and friendships with \u2018musicians and music-lovers\u2019.<\/p>\n

Ernst signs off with his proudest claim to fame: \u201cIt may interest you, that I am the eldest surviving son of William LEVIN, to whom and his wife [sic.] Natalie, RICHARD STRAUS [sic.] dedicated his ELECTRA [sic.]\u201d<\/p>\n

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Anicuta\u2019s Salome sketches<\/u><\/p>\n

Anicuta, who had an interest in art and had studied at Utrecht Art School, drew sketches depicting Salome, a symbol of female seduction and sinfulness, and Herod alongside John the Baptist\u2019s head on a platter. In 1905, Richard Strauss had produced the famous modernist opera Salome<\/a>, based on Oscar Wilde\u2019s play<\/a> of the same name.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ernst Levin maintained a strong personal interest in famous German composer Richard Strauss even in his old age. Correspondence implies that Strauss was a friend to the prominent Levins, Ernst\u2019s parents Natalie and Willy. His opera \u2018Elektra\u2019 was dedicated to them, and many assume that Strauss based some of his characters on Willy Levin (see … Continue reading Richard Strauss and The Levin family\u2019s connection to a famous composer<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[31,32,3,30],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/levin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/levin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/levin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/levin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/levin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/levin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":409,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/levin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120\/revisions\/409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/levin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/levin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/levin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}