Ariadne auf Naxos was the third collaboration by Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal, written directly after the great success of Der Rosenkavalier. Originally planned as a “divertissement with a small chamber orchestra”, the project expanded into a grand venture combining opera, drama and ballet – and was a flop at its world premiere in1912. bring together the different genres of theater, ballet, drama, music and singing.”
Sven-Eric Bechtolf will direct this unconventional production, and has not onlyadapted Molière’s play Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, which preceded the opera at the time, but has also reinstated the ballet music written for it subsequently.
“A hundred years have passed since Hofmannsthal began to work on this tale with the fiercely practical and dramaturgically highly talented Strauss, one hundred years since the disastrous world premiere of Ariadne auf Naxos. We take this ‘anniversary’ as an opportunity to revisit the original version. And where would this make more sense than in Salzburg?” (Sven-Eric Bechtolf