Franz and Richard Strauss: Like Father, Like Son

Description
Did you know that Richard Strauss came from a very musical family, his father being both a composer and horn player. Take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
Strauss's first horn concerto was premiered, with the composer playing the horn part, in 1865 and he remained greatly in demand as a soloist. The conductor Hans von Bülow called him "the Joachim of the horn".
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Transcript

Franz Strauss, father to Richard, was recognized as an important artistic personality as a composer and celebrated horn virtuoso.

He was principal horn player of the Bavarian Court Opera for more than 40 years, a teacher at the Royal School of Music, Munich, and a conductor.

Strauss recognized his son’s talent early on and encouraged his musical development. As such, Richard Strauss's compositional output began in 1870 when he was just six years old and lasted until his death nearly eighty years later. 

Strauss's musical preferences were strongly classical; he loved the music of Mozart and admired Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert.

He didn’t much care for the music of Wagner though. He had an antipathy towards modern music in general which likely influenced the early development of his son.

Ironically, despite his personal distaste for Wagner, both as a man and a musician, Strauss's strict professionalism drove him to devote all his technical mastery to the important horn solos in Wagner's operas.