Die Frau ohne Schatten, Op. 65, TrV 234

Composer: Strauss, Richard

Librettist/Text Author: Hofmannsthal, Hugo von

Conductor: Thielemann, Christian

Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Chorus: Salzburg Festival Children's Chorus

Chorus: Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus

Barak's Wife: Herlitzius, Evelyn

Barak, the Dyer: Koch, Wolfgang

The Emperor: Gould, Stephen

The Empress: Schwanewilms, Anne

The Hunchback: Conrad, Andreas

The Nurse: Schuster, Michaela

The One-Armed: Humes, Steven

The One-Eyed: Bruck, Markus

Stage Director: Loy, Christof

Television Director: Fibich, Karina

---

Festival: Salzburg Festival

Playing Time: 03:38:04

Catalogue Number: A04001554

Synopsis

Die Frau ohne Schatten, Op. 65, TrV 234

---

A shining hour, a moment of glory, trumpeted Vienna's Kurier after the double premiere of Richard Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Salzburg Festival in July 2011. The premiere of a stunning production, and that of Christian Thielemann as opera conductor at the Salzburg Festival. "A triumph for Thielemann", hailed the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Christian Thielemann and the Wiener Philharmoniker were frenetically cheered, heartily applauded, "and rightly so (Suddeutsche Zeitung).

True to the Salzburg Festival's tradition, this production features a line-up of great Strauss singers, a "high-caliber vocal cast that provides the greatest Strauss bliss" (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). The entire cast was exuberantly accompanied by the Wiener Philharmoniker, which "responded with playing of exceptional refinement, precision and warmth" (Financial Times).

Completed in 1917, the massively scored work - one of the most difficult to interpret, both musically and dramatically - wasn't a success from the beginning. It was only years later that the opera was rediscovered: thanks to Karl Bohm's acclaimed complete Grammophon recording, which took place in Vienna in 1955, the work became better known and is now even regarded as "the richest and most colorful score that Strauss ever wrote" (Die Presse). It is this recording that inspired director Christof Loy's production, which is set in the mid 1950s in the Sofiensale, a celebrated Viennese recording studio at the time. The singers portray singers from the Wiener Staatsoper at the recording, who - during the course of the performance - gradually meld with their roles.