The Königliches Opernhaus (now the Semperoper) in Dresden, where many of Strauss's operas premiered

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 [de] (comp. 1947–1949), was unfinished at his death and completed by Karl Haussner in 1964.

List of operas

Operas by Richard Strauss[2]
Period[a] Title Genre Act(s) Librettist Premiere Op.[1] TrV[1]
Date Venue
1876 Der Kampf mit dem Drachen ? 1 act Körner Unperformed – 44
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
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 [de]
(completed by Haussner) 		Komödie 6 scenes Adler, after Wieland[e] 7 June 1964 Ettal, Ettal Abbey – 294

References

Notes

  1. ^ Period during which the opera was written.
  2. ^ Lachmann's German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde.
  3. ^ To be played after Le bourgeois gentilhomme by Molière.
  4. ^ After his story Lucidor, Figuren zu einer ungeschriebenen Komödie (1910) and the comic sketch Der Fiaker als Graf (1925).
  5. ^ Wieland's novel Die Geschichte der Abderiten.

Citations

  1. ^ a b c Gilliam & Youmans 2001.
  2. ^ Information is from Murray (2002), unless otherwise noted.
  3. ^ Osborne 1988, p. 1.
  4. ^ 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.
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