List of operas by Richard Strauss
The German composer Richard Strauss (1864–1949) was prolific and long-lived, writing 16 operas from 1892 up until his death in 1949. Strauss "emerged soon after the deaths of Wagner and Brahms as the most important living German composer",[1] and was crucial in inaugurating the musical style of Modernism. His operas were dominant representatives of the genre in his time, particularly his earlier ones: Salome (1905), Elektra (1909), Der Rosenkavalier (1911) and Ariadne auf Naxos (1912). His earliest work, Der Kampf mit dem Drachen (comp. 1876), was a juvenile sketch, and is sometimes not counted as part of his operatic oeuvre; his final opera, Des Esels Schatten (comp. 1947–1949), was unfinished at his death and completed by Karl Haussner in 1964.
List of operas
Period[a] | Title | Genre | Act(s) | Librettist | Premiere | Op.[1] | TrV[1] | Av | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Venue | ||||||||
1876 | Der Kampf mit dem Drachen | ? | 1 act | Körner | Unperformed | – | 44 | 206 | |
1892–93 | Guntram (revised 1940) |
Opera[3] | 3 acts | Strauss | 10 May 1894; revised version: 29 October 1940 |
Weimar, Grossherzogliches Hoftheater (both versions) | 25 | 168 | – |
1900–01 | Feuersnot (Fire Famine)[4] |
Singgedicht (sung poem) |
1 act | Wolzogen | 21 November 1901 | Dresden, Königliches Opernhaus | 50 | 203 | – |
1903–05 | Salome | Musikdrama | 1 act | Strauss, based on Lachmann's German translation of Wilde[b] | 9 December 1905 | Dresden, Königliches Opernhaus | 54 | 215 | – |
1906–08 | Elektra | Tragödie | 1 act | Hofmannsthal, after Sophocles's Electra | 25 January 1909 | Dresden, Königliches Opernhaus | 58 | 223 | – |
1909–10 | Der Rosenkavalier | Komödie für Musik | 3 acts | Hofmannsthal | 26 January 1911 | Dresden, Königliches Opernhaus | 59 | 227 | – |
1911–12 | Ariadne auf Naxos[c] | Oper | 1 act | Hofmannsthal | 25 October 1912 | Stuttgart, Kleines Haus des Hoftheaters | 60 | 228 | – |
1915–16 | Ariadne auf Naxos, second version |
prologue & Oper | 1 act | Hofmannsthal | 4 October 1916 | Vienna, Kaiserliches und Königliches Hof-Operntheater | 60 (II) | 228a | – |
1914–17 | Die Frau ohne Schatten | Oper | 3 acts | Hofmannsthal, after Goethe | 10 October 1919 | Vienna, Vienna State Opera | 65 | 234 | – |
1918–23 | Intermezzo | bürgerliche Komödie mit sinfonischen Zwischenspielen | 2 acts | Strauss | 4 November 1924 | Dresden, Semperoper | 72 | 246 | – |
1923–27 | Die ägyptische Helena | Oper | 2 acts | Hofmannsthal, after Euripides's Helen | 6 June 1928 | Dresden, Semperoper | 75 | 255 | – |
14 August 1933 (new version) |
Salzburg, Kleines Festspielhaus | – | |||||||
1929–32 | Arabella | lyrische Komödie (lyric comedy) |
3 acts | Hofmannsthal, after his works[d] | 1 July 1933 | Dresden, Semperoper | 79 | 263 | – |
1933–34 | Die schweigsame Frau | komische Oper | 3 acts | Zweig, after Jonson's Epicœne, or The silent woman | 24 June 1935 | Dresden, Semperoper | 80 | 265 | – |
1935–36 | Friedenstag | Oper | 1 act | Gregor | 24 July 1938 | Munich, Bayerische Staatsoper, Nationaltheater | 81 | 271 | – |
1936–37 | Daphne | bukolische Tragödie | 1 act | Gregor | 15 October 1938 | Dresden, Semperoper | 82 | 272 | – |
1938–40 | Die Liebe der Danae | heitere Mythologie | 3 acts | Gregor | 14 August 1952 | Salzburg, Kleines Festspielhaus | 83 | 278 | 256 |
1940–41 | Capriccio | Konversationsstück für Musik | 1 act | Strauss and Krauss, after Casti | 28 October 1942 | Munich, Bayerische Staatsoper, Nationaltheater | 85 | 279 | – |
1947–49 | Des Esels Schatten (completed by Haussner) |
Komödie | 6 scenes | Adler, after Wieland[e] | 7 June 1964 | Ettal, Ettal Abbey | – | 294 | 300 |
References
Notes
- ^ Period during which the opera was written
- ^ Lachmann's German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde
- ^ to be played after Le bourgeois gentilhomme by Molière
- ^ after his story Lucidor, Figuren zu einer ungeschriebenen Komödie (1910) and the comic sketch Der Fiaker als Graf (1925)
- ^ Wieland's novel Die Geschichte der Abderiten
Citations
- ^ a b c Gilliam & Youmans 2001.
- ^ Information is from Murray (2002), unless otherwise noted.
- ^ Osborne 1988, p. 1.
- ^ Osborne 1988, p. 25.
Sources
- Gilliam, Bryan; Youmans, Charles (2001). "Strauss, Richard". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.40117. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- Murray, David (2002) [1992]. "Strauss, Richard (opera)". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.O904818. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- Osborne, Charles (1988). The Complete Operas of Richard Strauss. North Pomfret: Trafalgar Square Publishing. ISBN 978-0-943955-06-3.
- Schuh, Willi (1982). Richard Strauss: A Chronicle of the Early Years 1864-1898. Translated by Whittall, Mary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-24104-5.