A quiz for opera enthusiasts

Here's a simple quiz for people who think that Wagner, or Mozart, or Verdi, or Stockhausen, or whoever is the greatest opera composer who ever lived. Not just their favourite composer, whose wonderful operas they want everyone to love as much as they do. Not just a composer with a huge influence on the genre. … Continue reading A quiz for opera enthusiasts →

50. Ariadne auf Naxos (Richard Strauss)

Opera in 1 act By Richard Strauss Libretto: Hugo von Hofmannsthal First performed: Hoftheater Stuttgart, 25 October 1912, as a 30-minute accompaniment to Molière’s Le Bourgeois gentilhomme. Revised version: Vienna State Opera, 4 October 1916. "The thirty-minute opera for small chamber orchestra ... is as good as complete in my head," Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Viennese playwright and … Continue reading 50. Ariadne auf Naxos (Richard Strauss) →

21. Friedenstag (Richard Strauss)

FRIEDENSTAG Oper in 1 act Op. 81, TrV 271 By Richard Strauss Librettist: Joseph Gregor, after Stefan Zweig First performed: Nationaltheater, Munich, 24 July 1938 COMMENTARY The rarely performed, often maligned Friedenstag is one of Strauss’s most underrated works: a powerful testament to the horrors of war and a plea for peace, first performed in … Continue reading 21. Friedenstag (Richard Strauss) →