Symphonia Domestica

53, is a tone poem for large orchestra by Richard Strauss reflecting the secure domestic life valued by the composer and accordingly dedicated by him to his "dear wife and young ones."

When he began composing the Symphonia Domestica, he intended it to be the sequel to Ein Heldenleben, the next installment of the autobiography of the now-successful artist.

On that occasion, the concert programme carried the following outline: Strauss reserved the premiere for his American tour in 1904, and Carnegie Hall in New York was booked.

The New York and German press were very critical, not just of these exhibitions but of the very work itself, regarding them as a blatant commercialization of the sacred art of music and the intimacy of family life.

Strauss responded: "True art ennobles this Hall, and a respectable fee for his wife and child is no disgrace even for an artist".