anguish, the thought of death, and the tyranny of life, that come and
weigh down afresh his spirit hungering for light, and force it into
feverish speculation and bitter argument. Perhaps it is better so.

[Footnote 169: _Beyond Good and Evil_, 1886. I hope I may be excused for
introducing Nietzsche here, but his thoughts seem constantly to be
reflected in Strauss, and to throw much light on the soul of modern
Germany.]

* * * * *

Richard Strauss is both a poet and a musician. These two natures live
together in him, and each strives to get the better of the other. The
balance is not always well maintained; but when he does succeed in
keeping it by sheer force of will the union of these two talents,
directed to the same end, produces an effect more powerful than any
known since Wagner's time. Both natures have their source in a mind
filled with heroic thoughts--a rarer possession, I consider, than a
talent for either music or poetry. There are other great musicians in
Europe; but Strauss is something more than a great musician, for he is
able to create a hero.

When one talks of heroes one is thinking of drama. Dramatic art is
everywhere in Strauss's music, even in works that seem least adapted to
it, such as his _Lieder_ and compositions of pure music. It is most
evident in his symphonic poems, which are the most important part of his
work. These poems are: _Wanderers Sturmlied_ (1885), _Aus Italien_
(1886), _Macbeth_ (1887), _Don Juan_ (1888), _Tod und Verklaerung_
(1889), _Guntram_ (1892-93), _Till Eulenspiegel_ (1894), _Also sprach
Zarathustra_ (1895), _Don Quixote_ (1897), and _Heldenleben_
(1898).[170]

[Footnote 170: This article was written in 1899. Since then the
_Sinfonia Domestica_, has been produced, and will be noticed in the
essay _French and German Music_.]

I shall not say much about the four first works, where the mind and
manner of the artist is taking shape. The _Wanderers Sturmlied_ (the
song of a traveller during a storm, op. 14) is a vocal sextette with an
orchestral accompaniment, whose subject is taken from a poem of
Goethe's. It was written before Strauss met Ritter, and its construction
is after the manner of Brahms, and shows a rather affected thought and
style. _Aus Italien_ (op. 16) is an exuberant picture of impressions of
his tour in Italy, of the ruins at Rome, the seashore at Sorrento, and
the life of the Italian people. _Macbeth_ (op. 23) gives us a