Strauss reserved the premiere for his American tour in 1904, and
Carnegie Hall in New York was booked. He would conduct it himself. Originally the premiere was scheduled for 9 March, but the orchestral parts were delayed, so it was postponed to 21 March. The later date allowed more rehearsals, of which 15 were required before Strauss was satisfied. The
Wetzler Symphony Orchestra was adequate, but not much more. During a performance of his
Don Quixote two nights earlier, the orchestra had broken down in the middle of the piece. Nevertheless, the performance was a great success, so much so that he was prevailed upon to conduct two more performances in
Wanamaker's department store in New York, on 16 and 18 April, for a fee of $1,000. An entire sales floor had to be cleared to make way for the huge orchestra, and the concerts attracted audiences of 6,000 people. The New York and German press were very critical, not just of these exhibitions but of the very work itself, regarding them as a blatant commercialization of the sacred art of music and the intimacy of family life. Strauss responded: "True art ennobles this Hall, and a respectable fee for his wife and child is no disgrace even for an artist". The Viennese premiere of the
Domestica was conducted by
Gustav Mahler on 23 November 1904. A typical performance of the work lasts approximately forty-four minutes. In 1924 Strauss wrote the
Wedding Prelude for two harmoniums (
Trv 247) for the occasion of the wedding of his son Franz with Alice Grab-Hermannswörth, based largely on themes found in the
Symphonia Domestica. In 1925, Strauss wrote a piece for
Paul Wittgenstein for
piano left-hand and orchestra, again using themes from the
Symphonia Domestica, titled
Parergon zur Symphonia Domestica, Op. 73. ==Discography==