Ein Heldenleben op. 40 was written in 1898, so to speak at the end of a decade, in which Strauss with orchestral works such as Don Juan, Macbeth, Tod und Verklärung, Till Eulenspiegel’s lustige Streiche, Also sprach Zarathustra and Don Quixote had highly intensively and successfully set to music extra-musical stories with purely instrumental means. In the popular genre of programme music, he could justifiably count on a positive response on the part of his public.

The ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of his chief conductor Cornelius Meister did a lot of performances of Richard Strauss works during the Jubilee year 2014. The Highlight of this concert series at the Vienna Konzerthaus was the “Heldenleben” performance, enthusiastic acclaimed by press and audience.