At The Gates - The Swarm

In anticipation of the completion of his composition, Strauss opened the newspaper one morning and read in amazement that another, unknown conductor, a certain Benjamin Beals, was announcing the premiere of his Serenade. Strauss was beside himself. He did not know anything about it. He immediately went to his impresario Wolf. He assured Strauss that he also knew nothing and did not give Beals the manuscript. Strauss went into a concert in a rage. He could not prevent it. “The performance was very poor, too slow, there was no coherence in the orchestra.” And yet the work was some kind of success - but Strauss did not enjoy it. He feared that Bulov, hearing about this, would cancel his execution in anger.