Richard Strauss in the Twilight | The composer and the Third Reich

Richard Strauss remains a luminous figure to this day. The composer set standards with his operas, songs and symphonic poems. He fascinates people with his magical sense of sound. But his radiant aura is overshadowed by darkness. Who is he on the one side, who is he on the other? What are the connecting dots between them? It is a life full of contradictions.

The film shows motifs and shades and reveals the complexity of the musician and the man Richard Strauss. What drove Richard Strauss and what did he actually stand for? At the beginning of the Third Reich, Richard Strauss was president of the Reich Chamber of Music, but eventually resigned from office on the strong recommendation of propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels after a letter was intercepted in which he stated that he was merely ‘miming’ the president. At the same time, Strauss was and remained the protector of the Jewish part of his family. However, more than 25 relatives were murdered by the National Socialists. He, by now an old man, was powerless.

The focus on Strauss today is sharpened when the renaming of streets or parks is discussed. Even if this happens detached from his brilliant music, his contradictions and ambiguities during the Nazi era remain.