- First Urtext edition since the the first print

- Evaluation of all avaiblable sources (e.g. autograph score as well as the corrected printed scores by Walter Seifert and Clemens Krauss)

- For the first time ever, the first version of the ending is included

- Due to sophisticated alternatives in the parts, both endings are performable

„The others spit venom and bile, mainly because they believed that the rather ugly descriptions of the naysayers and opponents were meant to be about themselves.” This comment, as well as his performance instructions for the woodwinds, „very sharp and pointed, rattling, hissing” (at that time still titled The Hero’s Adversary), were intended to emphasize once again how little Strauss cared about the chatter of his critics. The genesis of A Hero's Life is closely linked to that of its antagonist, the tragicomic figure of Don Quixote. Strauss originally intended both works to be performed together, i.e. in the same concert.