Richard Strauss’s Don Juan, Op. 20 is a tone poem composed in 1888—when the composer was just 24—and first performed by Strauss himself in Weimar on 11 November 1889. Inspired by Nikolaus Lenau’s verse drama Don Juans Ende, the work charts the legendary libertine’s passionate exploits, subsequent despair, and ultimate demise in a single, continuous movement.

Strauss’s orchestration balances powerful brass and lush strings with coloristic percussion and harp effects, ensuring clarity amid the score’s virtuosic demands. Formally, “Don Juan” merges sonata‑rondo principles into an episodic narrative: a vigorous brass‑led hero theme gives way to lyrical solo violin and oboe episodes (symbolizing love and liaison), followed by turbulent recurrences and a hushed, dying‑breath conclusion in E minor. The work’s taut pacing, sharply etched motifs, and vivid orchestral imagery establish it as a landmark of late‑Romantic program music.