Strauss’ music has the scale and sweep of a film soundtrack. Requiring a massive orchestra of around 100 musicians, at times its almost physical wall of sound is overwhelming. This, together with its soaring melodies and thrilling moments such as the battle scene, have secured it a place in audiences hearts. Wagner’s Meistersingers Suite has a similar grandness, but is a warmer, brighter piece of music, full of epic, optimistic, melodies.

Horns and heroism

Strauss set out to write a ‘heroic’ piece of music in the mould of Beethoven’s own ‘Heroic’ symphony (which you can hear on 12 March). In his music Strauss said he aimed to describe a general idea of bravery and heroism, rather than it being about one individual, though there’s some speculation that it was really about himself.

There’s one instrument that is the star of the show in the piece – the horn. Strauss’ dad was one of the greatest horn players of all time, so it was an instrument that Strauss knew well. He included eight of them, and made them a core part of the piece, saying “It is entitled ‘A Hero’s Life’, and while it has no funeral march, it does have lots of horns, horns being quite the thing to express heroism”.