Ariadne auf Naxos

The libretto was written by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Strauss's most important and enduring literary collaborator. Together they created some of the most significant operas of the early 20th century, including Der Rosenkavalier and Die Frau ohne Schatten.

There are two principal versions: the original 1912 version, presented as part of a lavish theatrical evening that included a performance of Molière's Le Bourgeois gentilhomme, and the widely performed 1916 revision, which replaced the Molière play with a newly written prologue. The 1916 version is the one almost universally staged by opera companies today.

The opera blends a serious classical tragedy — the story of Ariadne abandoned on the island of Naxos — with lighthearted commedia dell'arte comedy, all within a frame narrative about a wealthy patron who demands that an opera seria and a comic troupe perform simultaneously to save time. This layering of high and low art within a single evening is what makes the work so distinctive.

The key roles are Ariadne (soprano), the abandoned princess longing for death; Zerbinetta (coloratura soprano), the leader of the comic troupe who tries to cheer her; the Composer (a mezzo-soprano trouser role), who is devastated by the forced merger of his serious opera with comedy; and Bacchus (tenor), the young god who ultimately transforms Ariadne's despair into transcendence.