A Straussian Mixer
An audio tour by Thomas May
Richard Strauss used to brag that he could set a pint of beer or even a grocery list to music. The tone poems that first made him famous display his astonishing gift for musical description—even translating into musical terms such topics as the experience of dying. But Strauss’ real genius is to be found in his ability to create unforgettable characters. And the characters in his sixth opera, Ariadne auf Naxos, had him firing on all cylinders.
In fact, the challenge Strauss faced with Ariadne was an unusual one: How to shift seamlessly between diametrically opposed sets of characters who nevertheless share the stage. Ariadne pits the worlds of tragedy and comedy against each other—like an operatic Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.
Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s libretto was originally meant to be a lightweight satire, but after much revision he developed a sophisticated opera-within-an-opera framework. The Prologue sets up the situation for the collision of styles we’ll hear in the “official” opera. An idealistic young Composer is horrified to discover the philistine demands of his patron for that evening’s entertainment: In order to leave plenty of time for the fireworks, he’ll have to make room in his new tragic opera for the hijinks of the comedy troupe sharing the bill.
In the Prologue, Strauss establishes the prosaic atmosphere of backstage squabbles and dueling egos with tremendous comic flair. Listen here to the Prima Donna turning up her nose at the thought of being in the same company as these low-life comic artists, while Zerbinetta (the flirty soprano star of the comedians) snaps back that the stuffy opera is going to bore the living daylights out of their audience:
Clip 1: Battle of the Prima Donnas
Strauss crafted one of his most endearing roles with The Composer, who is cast as a trouser part (i.e., sung by a mezzo-soprano, the American Kristine Jepson in WNO’s production). It’s frequently been noted that Strauss had a particular affinity for the female voice, as Ariadne certainly bears out. In the midst of all the confusion, we hear the dreamy, naïve young Composer in the throes of inspiration as a buoyant melody suddenly occurs to him:
Clip 2: The Composer's Inspiration
In typical Ariadne style, Strauss parodies The Composer but at the same time glorifies him, allowing us to see him from different perspectives. A similar process happens with Zerbinetta. She’s the stereotypical coquette—her commedia dell’arte troupe of clowns is the equivalent of sitcom types—but toward the end of the Prologue Strauss hints at another, more sensitive side as she flirts with The Composer:
Clip 3: A New Side of Zerbinetta
Listen, here at the end of the Prologue, to how brilliantly Strauss deflates the high-minded lyrical ecstasy of The Composer when the show is ordered at last to get under way. This is the strategy of Ariadne in a nutshell:
Clip 4: The Composer's Ecstasy Deflated
The opera within the opera really has no plot. Ariadne, the famous mythical figure who helped Theseus escape the labyrinth, laments her betrayal: Theseus has abandoned her on the desolate island of Naxos and she seeks death. Like The Composer, Strauss allows us to feel her emotions from within, which range from suicidal despair to noble resolve. Here she is at her most heroic:
Clip 5: Ariadne Alone
But as she luxuriates in her despair, the comedians, goaded by Zerbinetta, intervene to cheer her up in a burlesque. In fact, Strauss gives an even bigger solo to Zerbinetta, who emerges as the counterpart to the title heroine, musically and dramatically. On the surface, her big number is a send-up of coloratura fireworks, which represent her flightiness—much as Ariadne’s music playfully alludes to the language of tragic opera. This is her characteristically cheerful main tune:
Clip 6: Zerbinetta’s Rondo Tune
There’s more to Zerbinetta than the stereotype she plays. Listen to her swoony vocal display here—you can sense how Strauss gives her an ironic, self-conscious edge, as if she’s aware of the role she’s playing. One of the real innovations of Ariadne is how it foreshadows a postmodern attitude of role-playing:
Clip 7: Swoonier Zerbinetta
All the while, Strauss is having fun playing with music history and his ability to evoke any style he wants. Here’s a gentle poke at Italian bel canto, with the flute accompaniment suggesting one of Donizetti’s mad scenes:
Clip 8: Donizetti Parody with Flute
The juxtaposition of the two worlds of Ariadne and Zerbinetta generates the delicious ambiguity that is the opera’s signature. Their dichotomy can also be heard in the way Strauss treats his ensembles. The comedians tend toward clear, lean textures:
Clip 9: Cheering Ariadne Up
When the god Bacchus arrives for the final scene, he kicks the opera into a full-on Wagnerian mode. Strauss calls for an impassioned heldentenor style (even though relatively short, the role is killer on account of how high it lies in the range):
Clip 10: Bacchus
Because of everything Strauss has been doing, it becomes hard to tell where the parody ends, where the masks are meant to come off—if at all. Ariadne is all about this unique blending of the silly and the serene, the prosaic and the transcendent. With his love music for Ariadne and her new god, Strauss seems to undermine the host’s need for fireworks to end the evening’s entertainment:
Clip 11: Ariadne and Bacchus
Audio excerpts of Ariadne auf Naxos are taken from the 1990 Philips recording featuring Jessye Norman (Ariadne), Edita Gruberova (Zerbinetta), and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Kurt Masur. All excerpts are used with permission from Deutsche Grammophon. The complete recording is available on iTunes and at Amazon.com.