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Score of Richard Strauss’ tone poem Don Quixote (subtitled “Phantastische Variationen über ein Thema ritterlichen Charakters”, translated as “Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character”), op. 35, inspired in Miguel de Cervantes’ work. It’s an orchestral piece in the form of a theme with variations, in which the main two motifs (representing Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza, the former in charge of the cello soloist and the latter played by the viola soloist) are presented in the introduction and later developed in each variation, narrating partially Cervantes’ story.
0:00 – (Introduction)
0:21 – Introduction: “Don Quixote loses his sanity after reading novels about knights, and decides to become a knight-errant”
6:29 – Don Quixote’s theme: “Don Quixote, knight of the sorrowful countenance”
7:33 – Sancho Panza’s theme – Maggiore
8:43 – Variation I “Adventure at the Windmills”
11:23 – Variation II: “The victorious struggle against the army of the great emperor Alifanfaron”
13:01 – Variation III: “Dialogue between Knight and Squire”
20:57 – Variation IV: “Unhappy adventure with a procession of pilgrims”
22:45 – Variation V: “The knight’s vigil”
26:55 – Variation VI: “The Meeting with Dulcinea”
28:12 – Variation VII: “The Ride through the Air”
29:16 – Variation VIII: “The unhappy voyage in the enchanted boat”
31:04 – Variation IX: “Battle with the magicians”
32:05 – Variation X: “Duel with the knight of the bright moon”
36:22 – Finale: “Coming to his senses again”
Performers: Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, G. Pehlivanian (conductor).