Soprano Jessye Norman left a number of recordings in the vault at the time of her death. Now some of them have been released for the first time. Decca Archives hide caption
Richard Strauss Richard Strauss artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music
Richard Strauss
Van Cliburn moves through difficult passage in the final round of Tchaikovsky International Piano & Violin competition on April 11, 1958 in Moscow. AP hide caption
'Dangerous Melodies' Examines Classical Music And American Foreign Relations
Osmo Vänskä conducts the Minnesota Orchestra in Havana, Cuba in May 2015. Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
An Alpine Symphony, by Richard Strauss, depicts a dawn to dusk climb up a mountain. iStockphoto.com hide caption
Composer Richard Strauss in London in 1914. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption
Jonathan Carney is the concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. James Bartolomeo/Baltimore Symphony Orchestra hide caption
What happens when musicians slow the music way down? iStockphoto.com hide caption
Fathers have played an important role in shaping musical history. Matthew Scherf/iStockphoto.com hide caption
Soprano Cheryl Barker (as Jenůfa) and tenor Peter Wedd (as Luca) sing in a production of Leoš Janáček's Jenůfa from Opera Australia. Patrick Riviere/Getty Images hide caption
Can you make out to Mozart, or shack up to Chopin? Composers can turn on the sex appeal when necessary. iStock hide caption
Richard Strauss' iconic opening to Also Sprach Zarathustra evokes a sense of vastness and power, Marin Alsop says. Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Soprano Karita Mattila and pianist Martin Katz perform live at Carnegie Hall: December 10, 2011. Melanie Burford for NPR hide caption
Elektra (Susan Bullock) brandishes the axe that killed her father, Agammenon — in hopes that it will also kill her mother, Klytaemnestra. Karin Cooper hide caption
Hear An Introduction To The Opera
The changing of the season can trigger a change in musical appetite. iStock hide caption
Cellist Pablo Casals, violinist Fritz Kreisler, pianist Harold Bauer and conductor Walter Damrosch in 1904. Blaine Littell Collection of Walter Damrosch Memorabilia / Carnegie Hall Archives hide caption
Conductor Nicholas McGegan loves to languish in the late music of Richard Strauss. Sasha/Getty Images hide caption
Aria: 'Accept this gold as a precious gift' (Lauren Flanigan, soprano) from Strauss' Die Liebe der Danae
Elektra (Susan Bullock) brandishes the axe that killed her father, Agammenon — in hopes that it will also kill her mother, Klytaemnestra. Karin Cooper hide caption
Tristan Perich's "1-Bit Symphony" features hand-assembled circuitry housed in a clear plastic CD case. hide caption
Soprano Jessye Norman. Carol Friedman hide caption