Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks (German: Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, 1894-95), Op. 28, is a tone poem by Richard Strauss, chronicling the misadventures and pranks of the German peasant folk hero, Till Eulenspiegel. The two themes representing Till are played respectively by the horn and the clarinet. The horn theme is a lilting melody that reaches a peak, falls downward, and ends in three long, loud notes, each progressively lower. The clarinet theme is crafty and wheedling, suggesting a trickster doing what he does best.

The work opens with a 'Once upon a time' theme, with solo horn bursting in with two repetitions of the first Till theme. The theme is taken by the rest of the orchestra in a rondo form (or, as Strauss willfully called it, rondeau), and this beginning section concludes with the tutti orchestra repeating two notes, along the lines of a child's "ta da!". The clarinet theme is heard next, suggesting Till's laughter as he plots his next prank. The music follows Till throughout the countryside, as he rides a horse through a market, upsetting the goods and wares, pokes fun at the strict Teutonic clergy, flirts and chases girls (the love theme is given to a solo violin), and mocks the serious academics.

The music suggesting a horse ride returns again, with the first theme restated all over the orchestra, when the climax abruptly changes to a funeral march. Till has been captured by the authorities, and is sentenced to hang for blasphemy. The funeral march of the hangman begins a dialogue with the desperate Till, who tries to wheedle and joke his way out of this predicament. Unfortunately, he has no effect on the stony executioner, who pulls the lever. The D clarinet wails in a distortion of the first theme, signifying his death scream, and a pizzicato by the strings represents the actual hanging, and the swinging of the body back and forth, gradually slowing and growing more infrequent until reaching a stop. After a moment of silence, the 'once upon a time' theme heard at the beginning returns, suggesting that something like Till can never be destroyed, and the work ends with one last musical joke.