A Hero's Life: Ein Heldenleben

L Boulanger, D'un matin de printemps
Ravel, Shéhérazade
R Strauss, Ein Heldenleben

As a young man, Ravel was fascinated with Asia. He followed in the footsteps of other great composers in finding inspiration in the character of Scheherazade from the Arabian Nights tales. French mezzo-soprano Virginie Verrez brings the legendary character to life in Ravel’s exotic Shéhérazade.

Strauss’s tone poem Ein Heldenleben describes one hero’s path through adversity to peace. In so doing, Strauss wrote a work that pushed the orchestra’s every limit, and, in its many musical references to his other works, anticipated the Modernist movement.

Lili Boulanger, older sister of renowned French composer and teacher Nadia Boulanger, clearly would have become a French legend herself had she not died at just 24. Before her death, she won the Prix de Rome, the first woman to ever receive this prestigious award.