''Utan svafvel och fosfor'' (TrV 159) is an

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

work for male voice choir, written by

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

in 1889. It sets the words found on a Swedish matchbox.

Composition history

Strauss had arrived at Weimar as

Kapellmeister (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

on September 8, 1889, in the residency of the Grand Dukes of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. The Hofkapellmaster (chief music director) was Eduard Lassen (1830-1904), who welcomed the young Strauss and "readily acknowledged his artistic superiority." Strauss finished orchestrating his tone poem ''

Death and Transfiguration ''Death and Transfiguration'' (german: Tod und Verklärung, link=no), Op. 24, is a tone poem for orchestra by Richard Strauss. Strauss began composition in the late summer of 1888 and completed the work on 18 November 1889. The work is dedicate ...

'' soon after his arrival, and on November 11 he premiered his '' Don Juan''.

He spent many of his evenings, mostly in the company of Eduard Lassen, at the Künstlerheim, which he depicted to his father as "a frivolous means of passing the time, with a charming bar in an old smithy". An artists' ball was held there in December, in imitation of the
Paris Universal Exhibition The Exposition Universelle of 1889 () was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 5 May to 31 October 1889. It was the fourth of eight expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937. It attracted more than thirty-two million visitors. T ...
, which Richard attended as a blackamoor sweet-seller; it was for this occasion that he composed, on 7 December 1889, his Scherzo-Quartet for male voices on a text he had found on a box of matches made in Sweden: 'Ůtan svafvel och fosfor' (o. Op. 88).

Later, he wrote of this time at Weimar: "The theatre, cards, as well as my fiancee, claimed most of my attention" (his fiancée being Pauline de Ahna, who had also come to Weimar in October to work at the Court Opera). The piece is written for two tenor parts and two

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

parts and takes a little over 3 minutes to perform. It was written with an alternative German translation of the lyrics, ''Ohne Schwefel und Phosphor''. Strauss did not give the piece an opus number, indicating that he did not think it an important work. ''Utan svafvel och fosfor'' has been recorded by the Berlin radio chorus, with the Swedish lyrics, conducted by Robin Gritton.

References

Sources

* Kennedy, Michael (1999), ''Richard Strauss: Man, Musician, Enigma'', Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press. *Schuh, Willi (1982). ''Richard Strauss: A Chronicle of the Early Years 1864-1898'', (translated by Mary Wittal), Cambridge University Press. .
Choral score, published in 1992
{{Richard Strauss, state=collapsed Choral compositions by Richard Strauss 1889 compositions A cappella songs