Die Liebe der Danae is an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in three acts by Richard Strauss

Richard Strauss

Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...

 to a February 1937 German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 libretto by Joseph Gregor

Joseph Gregor

Joseph Gregor was an Austrian theatre historian and librettist.Originally recommended by Stefan Zweig, he wrote three librettos for Richard Strauss: Friedenstag , Daphne and Die Liebe der Danae , as well as contributing to the texts of Capriccio and the posthumous school opera Des Esels...

, based on an outline written in 1920, "Danae, or The Marriage of Convenience", by Hugo Hofmannsthal. Strauss worked on the score in 1937, 1938 and into 1939, although he was pre-occupied with completing Daphne

Daphne (opera)

Daphne is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss, his 13th opera, subtitled "A Bucolic Tragedy in One Act". The German libretto was by Joseph Gregor. The opera is based loosely on a myth from Ovid's Metamorphoses, and also includes elements taken from The Bacchae by Euripides...

, developing ideas with Gregor and finally replacing him as librettist for Capriccio

Capriccio (opera)

Capriccio is the final opera by German composer Richard Strauss, subtitled "A Conversation Piece for Music". The opera received its premiere performance at the Nationaltheater München on October 28, 1942. Clemens Krauss and Strauss himself wrote the German libretto...

, and then succumbed to illness, which caused postponement for several months into 1940. The opera was finally finished on 28 June 1940.

However, for a variety of reasons including Strauss' perception that the failure of Die Frau ohne Schatten

Die Frau ohne Schatten

Die Frau ohne Schatten is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with a libretto by his long-time collaborator, the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It was written between 1911 and either 1915 or 1917...

, as he put it, was caused by having been "put on in German theatres too soon after the last war", the composer refused to allow Clemens Krauss

Clemens Krauss

Clemens Heinrich Krauss was an Austrian conductor and opera impresario, particularly associated with the music of Richard Strauss.-Biography:...

, to whom he had guaranteed the right to conduct the first performances, to stage it until two years after the war.

The opera is an ingenious mixture of comedy and Greek mythology and the final act "contains the opera's finest music, a fact recognized by Strauss."

Performance history

Contradicting his original refusal to allow the first performance until after the war, it appears that Strauss had granted to Clemens Krauss

Clemens Krauss

Clemens Heinrich Krauss was an Austrian conductor and opera impresario, particularly associated with the music of Richard Strauss.-Biography:...

 as early as November 1942 permission to perform the opera as part of the Salzburg Festival

Salzburg Festival

The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...

. In a letter to the composer, Krauss states that "I shall then bring the work to its first performance in celebration of your 80th birthday" which would take place on 11 June 1944.

Arrangements were made for mid-August performances in 1944, but, following the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler, Joseph Goebbels

Joseph Goebbels

Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...

 declared "total war" and closed all theatres within the Third Reich, resulting in the work not being allowed a public staging. The Nazis did however permit a single dress rehearsal in Salzburg, conducted by Clemens Krauss on 16 August, in order that Strauss and an invited audience could hear the work performed. During an orchestral rehearsal before the private presentation, Strauss walked down to the orchestral rail in order to listen closely to the beautiful final interlude in the last act. Rudolf Hartmann, the opera's original producer, wrote of the incident:

Towards the end of the second scene (Act 3) Strauss stood up and went down to the front row of stalls. His unmistakeable head stood out in lonely silhouette against the light rising from the pit. The Viennese were playing the wonderful interlude before the last scene ('Jupiter's renunciation', Strauss once called it) with an unsurpassably beautiful sound. Quite immobile, totally oblivious to all else, he stood listening.

Hartmann went on to describe how, as the performance continued, those who witnessed the scene, (were)

profoundly moved and stirred to our depths, sensed the almost physical presence of our divinity, art...Several moments of profound silence followed after the last notes died away...Kraus spoke a few sentences outlining the significance of these last days in Salzburg. Strauss looked over the rail of the pit, raised his hands in a gesture of gratitude and spoke to the orchestra in a voice choked with tears: 'Perhaps we shall meet again in a better world'. He was unable to say any more...Silent and deeply moved, everyone present remained still as he left the auditorium.

In more recent years, the work has received only sporadic performances, mainly on account of its considerable vocal demands and the complexity of its stage directions. Nevertheless Strauss connoisseurs tend to have a special regard for the work. The eminent critic and Strauss biographer, Michael Kennedy

Michael Kennedy

Michael LeMoyne Kennedy , was the sixth of eleven children of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy.-Education:...

, has written:

The treatment of the many themes and motifs is amazingly inventive, the orchestral colours glow and shine - with Greek gold and mediterranean sunlight...Die Liebe der Danae does not deserve its neglect. Its third act alone lifts it into the category of first-rank Strauss.

The first public performance, also under Krauss, was at the Salzburg Festival on 14 August 1952, after Strauss' death in 1949. It was then given at the Royal Opera House

Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 on 16 September 1953, under Rudolf Kempe

Rudolf Kempe

Rudolf Kempe was a German conductor.- Biography :Kempe was born in Dresden, where from the age of fourteen he studied at the Dresden State Opera School. He played oboe in the opera orchestra of Dortmund and then in the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra, from 1929...

. The first American performance was at the University of Southern California

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

 in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 on 10 April 1964. It was given as part of the 1982 and 1985 summer festival seasons by The Santa Fe Opera

Santa Fe Opera

The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...

 conducted by company founder and lifelong Strauss enthusiast John Crosby

John Crosby (conductor)

John O’Hea Crosby was an American musician, conductor and arts administrator...

. The Semperoper

Semperoper

The Semperoper is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden and the concert hall of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden . It is located near the Elbe River in the historic center of Dresden, Germany.The opera house was originally built by the architect Gottfried Semper in 1841...

 in Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

 gave three performances of the opera in March 2009. ``In 2006 Renée Fleming

Renée Fleming

Renée Fleming is an American soprano specializing in opera and lieder. Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice.Fleming has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano repertoires. She has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. She also...

 recorded the final interlude and Danae's aria from Act III with the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre

Mariinsky Theatre

The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov received their premieres. The...

  conducted by Valery Gergiev

Valery Gergiev

Valery Abisalovich Gergiev is a Russian conductor and opera company director. He is general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and artistic director of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg.- Early life :Gergiev,...

  for a Decca

Decca Records

Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....

 CD entitled Homage: The Age of the Diva.

Roles

Role	Voice type	Premiere cast 16 August 1944 (dress rehearsal) (Conductor: Clemens Krauss Clemens Krauss Clemens Heinrich Krauss was an Austrian conductor and opera impresario, particularly associated with the music of Richard Strauss.-Biography:... )	Public Premiere cast 14 August 1952 (Conductor: Clemens Krauss)
Jupiter	baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...	Hans Hotter Hans Hotter Hans Hotter was a German operatic bass-baritone, admired internationally after World War II for the power, beauty, and intelligence of his singing, especially in Wagner operas. He was extremely tall and his appearance was striking because of his high, narrow face, wide mouth, and big, aquiline nose...	Paul Schöffler Paul Schöffler Paul Schöffler was a German operatic baritone, particularly associated with Mozart, Wagner, Strauss roles....
Merkur (Mercury)	tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...	Franz Klarwein	Josef Traxel Josef Traxel Josef Traxel was a German operatic tenor, particularly associated with Mozart roles and the German repertory....
Pollux, King of Eos	tenor	Karl Ostertag	László Szemere
Danae, his daughter	soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...	Viorica Ursuleac Viorica Ursuleac Viorica Ursuleac was an important Romanian operatic soprano.Viorica Ursuleac was born the daughter of a Greek Orthodox archdeacon, in Chernivtsi, which is now in Ukraine. Following training in Vienna, she made her operatic debut in Zagreb , as Charlotte in Massenet's Werther, in 1922...	Annelies Kupper Annelies Kupper Annelies Kupper , was a German operatic soprano, particularly associated with Mozart and the German repertory....
Xanthe, her servant	soprano	Irmgard Handler	Anny Felbermayer
Midas, King of Lydia	tenor	Horst Taubmann	Josef Gostic Josef Gostic Josef Gostic was a Slovene operatic tenor.Born Josip Gostic in Stara Loka, Slovenia, he studied at the Ljubljana Conservatory, making his debut there in 1929....
Four Queens: Semele Europa Alkmene Leda	soprano soprano mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above... contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...	Maud Cunitz Stefania Fratnik Maria Cornelius Anka Jelacic	Dorothea Siebert Esther Réthy Esther Réthy Esther Réthy was a Hungarian operatic soprano who had a major career in Europe from 1934 through 1968. She was notably a principal artist at the Vienna State Opera for over a decade and was a frequent performer at the Salzburg Festival. She performed a broad opera repertoire that encompassed... Georgine von Milinkovic Georgine von Milinkovic Georgine von Milinkovič was a Croatian operatic mezzo-soprano of Czech birth, particularly associated with Wagner and Strauss roles.... Sieglinde Wagner Sieglinde Wagner Sieglinde Wagner was an Austrian operatic contralto, who could also sing mezzo-soprano roles....
Four Kings, nephews to Pollux	2 tenors, 2 basses	Josef Trojan-Regar Walter Carnuth Georg Wieter Franz Theo Reuter	August Jaresch Erich Majkut Harald Pröglhöf Franz Bierbach
Four guards	basses
Creditors, servants and followers of Pollux and Danae, people

Synopsis

Danae, whose father King Pollux is bankrupt and beset by creditors, dreams of a wealthy husband in terms of a shower of golden rain. Royal envoys return with news that Midas, who can turn all to gold, has agreed to woo Danae, and his arrival at the harbour is announced. Danae receives a stranger who is Midas in disguise as his own servant. Strangely drawn to each other, they proceed to the harbour where the supposed King Midas (actually Jupiter in pursuit of another female conquest) greets Danae. Jupiter prepares for his marriage to Danae but, fearing discovery by his wife Juno, forces Midas to deputise for him at the ceremony. When Danae and Midas embrace, she is turned into a golden statue and Jupiter claims her as his divine bride. However her voice calls for the mortal Midas, she is returned to life, and the lovers disappear into the darkness. Jupiter announces that she will be cursed with poverty. Midas, returned to his former existence as a donkey-driver, reveals to Danae his broken pact with Jupiter, but Danae admits that it was love rather than his golden cloak that won her heart. Jupiter pays off Pollux's creditors with a shower of gold and, realising that Danae is far more than a passing amorous fancy, makes one desperate last attempt to win her back. However, she gives him a hair-clasp, her last golden possession, and the god accepts his loss with a moving farewell.

Recordings

Year	Cast: Jupiter, Merkur, Pollux, Danae	Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra	Label
1952	Paul Schöffler, Josef Traxel, László Szemere, Annelies Kupper	Clemens Krauss Clemens Krauss Clemens Heinrich Krauss was an Austrian conductor and opera impresario, particularly associated with the music of Richard Strauss.-Biography:... , Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra The Vienna Philharmonic is an orchestra in Austria, regularly considered one of the finest in the world....  and the Vienna State Opera Chorus (Recording of a performance from the Salzburg Festival Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart... , 14 August)	Audio CD: Melodram Cat: 37061; Orfeo Cat: C 292 923
2000	Peter Coleman-Wright, Michael Hendrick, William Lewis William Lewis (tenor) William L. Lewis is an American operatic tenor and academic.-Biography:William Lewis was educated at the University of Colorado, Texas Christian University and New York University. He began his career as a writer and an athlete before deciding to pursue a career in opera... , Lauren Flanigan Lauren Flanigan Lauren Flanigan is an American operatic soprano who has had an active international career since the 1980s. She has enjoyed a particularly fruitful partnership with the New York City Opera, appearing with the company almost every year since 1990...	Leon Botstein Leon Botstein Leon Botstein is an American conductor and the President of Bard College . Botstein is the music director and principal conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra and conductor laureate of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, where he served as music director and principal conductor from 2003-2010... , American Symphony Orchestra American Symphony Orchestra The American Symphony Orchestra is a New York-based American orchestra founded in 1962 by Leopold Stokowski, then aged 80. Following Maestro Stokowski's departure, Kazuyoshi Akiyama was appointed Music Director of the American Symphony Orchestra from 1973-1978. Music Directors during the early...  and the Concert Chorale of New York (Recording of a concert performance in Avery Fisher Hall Avery Fisher Hall Avery Fisher Hall is a concert hall, in New York City and is part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex. It is the home of the New York Philharmonic, with a capacity of 2,738 seats.-History:... , New York, 16 January)	Audio CD: Telarc Cat: CD 80570
2003	Franz Grundheber, Robert Chafin, Paul McNamara, Manuela Uhl	Ulrich Windfuhr, Kiel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Kiel Opera Chorus (Recording of two concert performances in Kieler Schloss, Kiel, 2 and 11 April)	Audio CD: cpo Cat: 999967-2