Klarinet Archive - Posting 000892.txt from 1997/09

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Strauss Oboe Co
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 1997 22:26:15 -0400

> From: MX%"klarinet@-----.79
> Subj: Re: Strauss Oboe Co

> I'd read that deLancie didn't play the premiere because of lingering bad
> feelings about Strauss' connections to the Nazis.

Not so! De Lancie did not play it because Tabuteau wanted to give
the first performance. De Lancie's brother lives in San Franciso
and I am very friendly with the family. Once De Lancie came out
to visit his brother and I was invited to a party where I had the
opportunity to ask him the details surrounding the origin of
the oboe concerto.

It had nothing to do with Strauss' connections to the Nazis. All
that Strauss can really be accused of was being stupid. His
denazification came very swiftly after the war, but what hurt
him most was a letter he wrote to Hitler praising him for his
racial theories and apologizing for having used Stafan Zweig
as his librettist.

He was D-U-M-B with capital letters but not particularly a
racist. He was also somewhat mean in that he played cards
with men who could not afford to lose and cleaned them out.

>
> Peter Stoll
> Instructor of Clarinet and Chamber Music
> University of Toronto
>
=======================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
=======================================