Richard Strauss's 85 years of life spanned a revolution in Germany - from 1864 when the nation did not exist to 1949. A nationalist but also a humanist, he believed in culture as `moral exoneration' and chose to remain in Nazi Germany and serve the Third Reich. Matthew Boyden examines for the first time Strauss's behaviour under Nazism, and assesses the incongruity of a seemingly crude character and the unfailing beauty and articulation of his music. A product of his age, an astounding talent and a man adept at concealing himself, Strauss only properly revealed his nature during the last twenty years of his life, when the pressures became both unbearable and unavoidable. This is the first detailed study of that nature.