Die ägyptische Helena (The Egyptian Helen) is an opera in two acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It premiered at the Dresden Semperoper on June 6, 1928. Strauss had written the title role with Maria Jeritza in mind but, creating quite a sensation at the time, the Dresden opera management refused to pay Jeritza's large fee and cast Elisabeth Rethberg instead as Helen of Troy. Jeritza eventually created the part ...
more
Die ägyptische Helena (The Egyptian Helen) is an opera in two acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It premiered at the Dresden Semperoper on June 6, 1928. Strauss had written the title role with Maria Jeritza in mind but, creating quite a sensation at the time, the Dresden opera management refused to pay Jeritza's large fee and cast Elisabeth Rethberg instead as Helen of Troy. Jeritza eventually created the part in Vienna and New York.
As inspiration for the story, Hofmannstahl used sources from Euripides and Stesichorus. Strauss made changes to the opera in 1933, five years after the premiere, working with the director Lothar Wallenstein and the conductor Clemens Krauss.
Although not dense and magmatic as the orchestration for Elektra and Salome, it is still impressive:
The mythological past
In her island palace, the sorceress Aithra waits in vain for Poseidon’s return. The oracle-like Omniscient Mussel tells her that though Poseidon is far away, he...
less
