Don Juan (Strauss)

[1] It is singled out by Carl Dahlhaus as a "musical symbol of fin-de-siècle modernism", particularly for the "breakaway mood" of its opening bars.

[3][4] The work, composed when Strauss was only twenty-four years old, became an international success and established his reputation as an important exponent of modernism.

[1] Excerpts from Don Juan are staples of professional orchestral auditions due to the numerous technical and musical demands on each instrument.

[3] Musicologists Bryan Gilliam and Charles Youmans described the work as containing "dazzling orchestration, sharply etched themes, novel structure and taut pacing" and being characterized by "flagrantly pictorial, humorous and altogether irreverent" music.

The work subsequently moves abruptly into a quiet melancholy which Strauss uses to illustrate the coming tragedy of Don Juan's fate.

Don Juan, tired of running, resigns himself willingly in a duel and his life is taken by a sword wielded by his lover's father who is avenging his daughter's honor.