MAKING his first appearance here since 1904, Richard Strauss will tour America in the Autumn, coming here for the three months, October, November and December, arrangements for the tour having just been completed by the International Concert Direction, Inc., of which Milton Diamond is director. It is understood that the negotiations were begun by Mr. Diamond on his recent European trip. In fact, since his return, Mr. Diamond has followed the famous composer by cable to Roumania, Germany and Austria, as Dr. Strauss was on tour, making guest appearances, his popularity in Europe being greater than ever during the past few years.

In New York it is announced that Dr. Strauss will appear as conductor in three orchestral concerts on Tuesday evenings at the Metropolitan Opera House. In addition to these concerts, he will be heard in a series of “Strauss Evenings,” assisted by a distinguished singer, who will sing his songs with the composer himself at the piano. That in some of these performances the “distinguished singer” will be Claire Dux, who comes to America for her first tour under the same management, is hinted. There is also a rumor that Dr. Strauss will appear as guest-conductor at the Metropolitan Opera House, where it is planned to revive his “Rosenkavalier,” and also with the Chicago Opera Association, which organization will give its production of “Salomé,” with Mary Garden in the title rôle, postponed from the present season. It is more than likely, too, that Dr. Strauss will appear as guest-conductor with our leading symphony orchestras, especially in his own works.

Seventeen years have passed since Dr. Strauss sailed into New York harbor to make his first appearance in this country. Those were days when he was musically the enfant terrible of Europe. Little Debussy and neither Stravinsky, nor Arnold Schönberg were known here then, and the symphonic poems of’ Richard Strauss were considered examples of anarchistic musical utterance. To-day the orchestral works of Dr. Strauss have taken their place in the standard orchestral répertoire; one hears but little of their “modernity” and more of their worth. More iconoclastic prophets have come to the front in the last decade whose musical utterance makes “Ein Heldeleben” seem in comparison a classic symphonic expression.

Since Dr. Strauss was last in America, at which time he conducted virtually a festival of his compositions with the Hans Wetzler Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, he has accomplished the greater part of his operatic work; for when he was here neither “Salomé” nor “Elektra” were yet composed and his operatic productions up to that date were nothing more than the early works, “Guntram” and “Feuersnot.” Consequently, as neither of these operas has ever been in the répertoire in America, Dr. Strauss has never appeared here as an operatic conductor. So should the operatic guest performances, which are already spoken of, materialize, they will mark the début in this field of the famous composer, who in Europe is considered one of the most distinguished conductors both in opera and concert.

The coming of Dr. Strauss might also bring us nearer to a hearing of his last opera, “Die Frau ohne Schatten” (“The Woman without a Shadow”), which has had a conspicuous success abroad; and it has just been learned that his ballet, “The Legend of Joseph,” which he wrote for the Diaghileff troupe and which was produced by the famous Russian Ballet just before the war in Paris with Dr. Strauss conducting, has had a big success in Berlin. In the booking of the tour it is understood that S. Hurok’s Musical Bureau will co-operate with the International Concert Direction, Inc.