R Strauss’s Kramerspiegel

This set of 12 songs is a bit of a curiosity and is rarely performed in concert today. The cycle came about after Strauss unwittingly signed a contract agreeing to provide a set of songs to a music publisher he had rather a distaste for. Not wishing to gift them any of his prized finished works, he instead opted to write Kramerspiegel (The Shopkeeper’s Mirror) instead. With specially written words by Alfred Kerr, the songs are filled with in-jokes and jibes at the publisher. Suffice to say, they didn’t accept the work and it sat in Strauss’s drawer, unperformed for a number of years.