After Hugo Kaun had finished his American adventure and returned to the Old World, he first set about transforming the exotic events into the two symphonic poems that have been in our catalogue since the end of 2023 under the title "Im Urwald". While he soon rose to become one of the most highly regarded German composers (primarily thanks to his striking works for male choirs), he turned his attention to programmatic characterisation once again: Sir John Falstaff, the incomparable charmer from William Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor and drinking companion of the future King Henry V, was given a well-deserved place in 1905 in the musical gallery of famous literary heroes alongside Till Eulenspiegel, Macbeth, Don Quixote, Don Juan and Zarathustra, to whom he does credit from his first broad-tracked appearance. Moreover, it prepares the listener excellently for the mighty Second Symphony, which was completed five years later - another testimony to an orchestral tamer who had a commanding command of the late Romantic palette.