Richard Strauss composed his Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, (TrV 283) whilst living in Vienna in 1942. The work was premiered in 1943 at the Salzburg Festival. The premier was given at the Salzburg Festival on 11 August 1943 with the horn player Gottfried von Freiberg [de] as the soloist and Karl Böhm conducting the Vienna Philharmonic. The concerto is written in a conservative style that looks back to the musical world of his teenage years as represented by his first horn concerto, which was completed in 1883. Strauss follows the typical fast-slow-fast structure of classical concerti, with the three movements in E-flat major, A-flat major, and E-flat major.
