This companion piece to "Don Juan" demands a huge orchestra: eight horns, five trumpets, quadruple woodwinds, and a powerful complement of percussion and strings. At the center of the story stands Strauss himself, a besieged composer who goes to war with the critics in a mighty orchestral battle.

A leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, Richard Strauss (1864-1949) is known for his operas (Der Rosenkavalier and Salome), Lieder, tone poems, and orchestral works.