When the planned performance of his opera seria Ariadne auf Naxos in the palace of a Viennese nouveau riche is combined with the dance masquerade of an Italian comedy troupe, the young composer is initially in despair.

It is mainly thanks to the dancer Zerbinetta that he agrees. In the opera itself, we meet Ariadne, abandoned and desperate. Only the god Bacchus succeeds in bringing her back to life. In the mystical union of the two, there is still room for Zerbinetta's mockery: "Come the new god gone, devoted we are mute!"

About the direction

Barrie Kosky relocates the beginning of Ariadne auf Naxos to the Villa Beer - an upper-class Viennese house from around 1900. This is where society meets, where the wealthy bourgeoisie surround themselves with opera and operetta artists - a place where seriousness and entertainment, grand opera and light muse naturally intertwine.

For Kosky, the challenge of the piece lies in the constant shift between pathos and lightness. These opposites drive each other on and constantly threaten to lose their balance. If one becomes too heavy, the other tips over. It is precisely this momentum that creates the tension that carries the evening.
On the surface, Zerbinetta and her troupe belong to the commedia dell'arte. However, Kosky reveals what lies behind this cipher: the cosmos of operetta with a new generation of emancipated women. Zerbinetta stands for movement, change and the freedom to make new commitments. The idea of remaining faithful to a single man is alien to her. Ariadne, on the other hand, holds on to precisely this idea - and with her to a seriousness that does not relativize pain and loss. There is no simple opposition between the two, but rather a tension between two attitudes towards life and the world.

At the end is Bacchus: Dionysus, the god of the theater. For Kosky, he is a figure who does not resolve these opposites, but transforms them. The theater begins where the tragic and the comic drive each other on, sparks fly - and something new emerges.

About the music

Ariadne auf Naxos is one of Richard Strauss' most subtle scores. It is characterized by the flowing alternation between contrasting musical levels: In the prelude, an agile, recitative-like style predominates, while the opera is more strongly characterized by large, wide-ranging arches - both forms of expression, however, permeate the entire work.
The music requires a special balance. Comedic lightness and heroic tone must intertwine seamlessly without covering each other up. It is precisely this combination that makes the score so appealing: Strauss works with subtle transitions rather than sharp breaks.
Despite the comparatively small orchestral forces, an astonishing variety of colors and forms of expression is created. The music repeatedly opens up to great emphasis, for example in the final minutes of the opera, which seem like the climax of a continuous musical wave movement.
At the same time, the music remains closely tied to the language and the scene. The specific tone of the libretto - characterized by the Viennese linguistic style of the time - is taken up and continued musically.

Ariadne auf Naxos has an unusual genesis. In the first version from 1912, the opera was part of a theater evening based on Molière's The Citizen as Nobleman. Initially, a play with its own plot was performed, at the end of which the opera followed as a festive interlude - Zerbinetta and her troupe also appear here as part of this stage program.
It was not until the revision of 1916 that it took on the form we know today. The play was deleted and replaced by a newly composed prelude, which takes place immediately before the opera begins. For the first time, the genesis of the performance itself becomes the subject - and the opera becomes a play about the theater.
At the center is a theme that Hofmannsthal described as a "simple and immense problem of life": fidelity. While Zerbinetta takes the constant change of love for granted, Ariadne clings to the idea of a single, absolute bond.
It is precisely this combination of theatrical reflection and existential questioning that makes Ariadne auf Naxos so special to this day.