Oppitz/Fischer-Dieskau - Richard Strauss: Enoch Arden

At the time he wrote Enoch Arden, Strauss was known primarily as a composer of tone poems, having made a name for himself with works such as Macbeth (1888), Don Juan (1888/89), Death and Transfiguration (1888-1890), Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks (1895) and Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1896). The brilliantly orchestrated symphonic work From Italy was written at about the same time as Enoch Arden. It took Strauss a while to develop a reputation as an operatic composer: his opera Guntram (1892) was a critical failure. Of his 16 operas, Salome (premiered in 1905) was the first to achieve any kind of fame, albeit of a rather scandalous and even infamous nature.