Strauss pays a tribute to Wagner in the one-act opera, "Feuersnot" ("Fire Famine"). According to the old legend on which this _Sing-gedicht_ (song-poem) is founded, a young maiden has offended her lover. But the lover being a magician, casts a spell over the town, causing the extinction of all fire, bringing cold and darkness upon the entire place, until the maiden relents and smiles again upon him, when the spell is lifted and the fires once more burn brightly. The young lover, _Kunrad_, in rebuking the people of the city, says:
"In this house which to-day I destroy, Once lodged Richard the Master. Disgracefully did ye expel him In envy and baseness," etc., etc.
Accompanying these lines, Strauss introduces themes from Wagner's "Ring of the Nibelung." Undoubtedly "Richard the Master," in the above lines, is Richard Wagner.
While Mr. Paur was not the first orchestral leader who has played Strauss's music in this country, he may justly be regarded as Strauss's prophet in New York at least. Not only do we owe to him the performances of "A Hero's Life," which definitely "created" Strauss here, but it was he who brought forward "Thus Spake Zarathustra," when he was conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. As long ago as 1889, when Mr. Paur was conductor at Mannheim, he invited Strauss to direct his symphony in F minor there. Strauss accepted and also brought with him his just completed "Macbeth," asking to be allowed to try it over with the orchestra, as he wanted to hear it--a request which was readily granted. Afterward, at Mr. Paur's house, Strauss's piano quartet was played, with the composer himself at the piano and Mr. Paur at the violin. It is not surprising that when Mr. Paur came over here as the conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, he championed Richard Strauss's work, continued to do so after he became conductor of the New York Philharmonic Society, and probably still does as conductor of the Pittsburg Orchestra.
Strauss has become such an important figure in the world of music that it is interesting to note what has been done to bring his work before the American public. Theodore Thomas, with the artistic liberality which he has always displayed toward every serious effort in music, produced Strauss's symphony in F minor, which bears date 1883, as early as December 13, 1884, with the New York Philharmonic Society. It was the first performance of this work anywhere. Strauss was not, however, heard again at the concerts of this organization until January, 1892, when Seidl brought out "Death and Transfiguration."