ABSTRACT

“…I want to be able to depict in music a glass of beer so accurately that every listener can tell whether it is a Pilsner or a Kulmbacher…” As it is understood from this quotation which belongs to the worldwide known composer and maestro Richard Strauss, the education that he received for many years and a number of studies he conducted gave him an opportunity to create an original musical language.

In this study, it was attemped to give a general information about Richard Strauss and one of his most popular works, namely “Don Quixote, Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character Op.35” inspired by the novel of Miguel de Cervantes’s, and to explain the music in a contemporary form that he created.