Ariadne auf Naxos (1916) came to life under unique circumstances. The librettist Hugo von Hofmannstahl had prepared a translation of Molière’s Le bourgeois gentilhomme for which Richard Strauss wrote incidental music. In place of the Turkish farrago which ends the original play, Hofmanntshal imagined a full-blown opera, Ariadne on Naxos, with the twist that the desert island on which the heroine was marooned should also be visited by a troupe of commedia dell’arte players. But when he realized that this double-header would be impractical, he wrote an explanatory prologue to replace the play, and this Strauss also set to music. So while the resultant opera is thoroughly modernist (indeed even post-modern) in its combination of genres, it is one of a kind, never to be repeated. We shall watch it in a site-specific production that is also sui generis, adding extra layers to the original Strauss-Hofmannsthal confection.

Since the story has so many layers, I advise reading the class handout (links above) in advance; the synopsis link from the Met above gives a fuller account of the story. There is a good preview of the Glyndebourne production we shall be watching available here. rb.