Ariadne auf Naxos - Schedule, Program & Tickets
Ariadne auf Naxos
Date:
Time:
Price class:
Location:
30.05.2024 , Thursday
19:00
C
The Estates Theatre, Železná, Praha 1, Czech Republic
Seating plan
Orchestra of the National Theater
At the beginning of the 20th century, Richard Strauss shocked theatergoers with two one-act operas, “Salome” and “Elektra,” which conveyed unprecedented heightened emotions through wild, deafening musical expression and reached tonal extremes. But the composer later decided to change the style and take a conciliatory step towards the opera audience. First he wrote “Der Rosenkavalier”, a piece that is still widely performed but in which the typical Straussian hustle and bustle still predominates both in the orchestra and on stage, followed by the far more intimate and relaxed Ariadne auf Naxos. Its original 1912 version was conceived as a follow-up to Hugo von Hofmannsthal's adaptation of Molière's Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, but in 1916 Strauss revised it into the form of the independent opera in which it is most often performed today. The main theme of Ariadne auf Naxos is the competition and respect between “high” and “low” art. Furthermore, Strauss also reveals the timeless rudeness of those who aim to become “patrons of the arts” in order to improve their poor cultural status.
Viewers of Strauss' play have a choice - like switching between television channels, they watch a serious opera about Ariadne, who is abandoned by her lover, for a while, and then a sober farce about the exuberant Zerbinetta. This is how the wealthy host of the bizarre performance decided that it should not last a millisecond longer than planned, as the art is followed by fireworks and dinner...
Strauss' "Comedy/Tragedy" returns to the National Theater Prague after 45 years, this time in a production by Slovakian director Sláva Daubnerová, who has already created several acclaimed opera adaptations, including Leoš Janáček and Brouček's "Excursions of the Lord" and Rodion Shchedrin's " Lolita.”
Subject to change.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Richard Strauss shocked theatergoers with two one-act operas, “Salome” and “Elektra,” which conveyed unprecedented heightened emotions through wild, deafening musical expression and reached tonal extremes. But the composer later decided to change the style and take a conciliatory step towards the opera audience. First he wrote “Der Rosenkavalier”, a piece that is still widely performed but in which the typical Straussian hustle and bustle still predominates both in the orchestra and on stage, followed by the far more intimate and relaxed Ariadne auf Naxos. Its original 1912 version was conceived as a follow-up to Hugo von Hofmannsthal's adaptation of Molière's Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, but in 1916 Strauss revised it into the form of the independent opera in which it is most often performed today. The main theme of Ariadne auf Naxos is the competition and respect between “high” and “low” art. Furthermore, Strauss also reveals the timeless rudeness of those who aim to become “patrons of the arts” in order to improve their poor cultural status.
Viewers of Strauss' play have a choice - like switching between television channels, they watch a serious opera about Ariadne, who is abandoned by her lover, for a while, and then a sober farce about the exuberant Zerbinetta. This is how the wealthy host of the bizarre performance decided that it should not last a millisecond longer than planned, as the art is followed by fireworks and dinner...
Strauss' "Comedy/Tragedy" returns to the National Theater Prague after 45 years, this time in a production by Slovakian director Sláva Daubnerová, who has already created several acclaimed opera adaptations, including Leoš Janáček and Brouček's "Excursions of the Lord" and Rodion Shchedrin's " Lolita.”
Subject to change.