STRAUSS, Richard 1864-1949

[Op. 83]. Die Liebe der Danae Heitere Mythologie in drei Akten von Joseph Gregor... Op. 83 Klavierauszug mit Text von Ernst Gernot Klussmann. [Piano-vocal score]

Berlin-Grunewald: Johannes Oertel [PN 8403], 1944.

Large folio. Original orange printed wrappers with decorative titling. [1] (title), [2] (performing rights notice), [3] (cast), [4] (blank), [5]-336 pp. Date of composition printed at conclusion of music: "Garmisch, 28. Juni 1940."

Printed dedication to head of title to Heinz Tietjen.

Wrappers slightly worn and soiled; spine slightly frayed. Browned.

First Edition. Trenner 278. Müller von Asow p. 1015.

The last opera of Richard Strauss to be produced (but not composed). The premiere was planned for the Salzburg Festival 1944, but all theatrical performances were canceled by Goebbels in response to war-time developments. A dress rehearsal with an invited audience (including Strauss) was held on August 16, 1944. The premiere was delayed until August 14, 195, again at the Salzburg Festival, with the same conductor (Clemens Krauss) but a different cast.

"As far back as 1920 Strauss’s great collaborator Hofmannsthal had proposed Danae as the heroine of a mythological opera... After the writer’s untimely death in 1929, the composer... asked [Joseph Gregor] in 1936 to develop the Danae idea... There was long, painful rewriting, and as usual the composer wounded his subservient partner by taking outside advice... and thrusting it upon him... The score was finished in June 1940. Strauss was reluctant to see this ‘oeuvre posthume’ staged during his lifetime, and after the 1944 première (meant to celebrate his 80th birthday) was aborted by Goebbels, when the Allies’ Second Front threatened, he never sanctioned another performance." David Murray in Grove Music Online.

Item #27105

Price: $125.00  other currencies