Firewind - Burning Earth

When Strauss was eleven years old, his father made him seriously study the basics of music. He mastered the theory of music under the guidance of F.V. Meyer, a friend of Franz, a great musician who sometimes stood at the conductor's console. Richard began to take piano lessons much earlier. The first trial lessons were taught to him at the age of four and a half years. His teacher was August Tombo, the harpist of the orchestra, the same Tombo who told Wagner that the harp part in the Valkyrie fire scene was not suitable for performance. Wagner kindly invited Trombaugh to correct the score as he sees fit. Another orchestra student, Benno Walter, taught Strauss to play the violin. Strauss, however, did not master either instrument, although he later became a pretty good pianist. These teachers, his father’s colleagues,introduced the boy to the principles of German music, taught the classical sonata form, dedicated it to the strict laws of traditional harmony, into all of it “possible” and “impossible”.