The operas of Richard Strauss are here provided in a single disc of the Audio Encyclopedia as a synoptic view. Information on using this disc is provided here. Technical information on use of the disc can be found here.Information on the Audio Encyclopedia is available from my WWW site at http://mrichter.simplenet.com/ .
1894: Guntram
1901: Feuersnot
1905: Salome
1909: Elektra
1911: Der Rosenkavalier
1912 / 1916: Ariadne auf Naxos
1919: Die Frau ohne Schatten
1924: Intermezzo
1928 / 1933: Die ägyptische Helena
1933: Arabella
1935: Die schweigsame Frau
1938: Friedenstag
1938: Daphne
1944: Die Liebe der Danae
1942: Capriccio
An abridged cast list and biographies of many of the singers are provided for convenience.
Strauss and Munich The association of Richard Strauss and the city of Munich is both historical and current. He was born in that city on 11 June 1864. While other cities, notably Dresden, provided a home base for much of his work, the Münchner Hofoper has been a sort of cultural home for his operas. Friedenstag (1938) and Capriccio (1942) premiered there and the house reflects its respect by elevating three composers to prominence: Mozart, Wagner and Strauss.
The tradition of Strauss performances at the Bayerische Staatsoper, München, as it is now known, has continued. It is almost as much the Strauss Haus as Salzburg is Mozart's. That tradition has prompted the world's most revered interpreters of his works to appear there and has prompted Munich to stage even his less popular works on a regular basis. We could have achieved neither the extent nor the quality of the recordings on this disc from any other company. We have chosen to use one performance, Capriccio, not from Munich but from Salzburg. By chance, there was no qualifying recording available from the Staatsoper and the one used here is of such quality that it could not be resisted.
There are particular reasons for producing a near-integral set of Strauss' works. Many of the performances are conducted by the eminent and under-recorded Wolfgang Sawallisch. Even more important is that while individual performances reach exceptional levels, there is an overall unity of interpretation and presentation which transcends any star turn. Indeed, on listening through the recordings here you may find it difficult to recognize even the greatest names as 'stars' in comparison with the brilliance of the works and their overall presentation. In some cases, one or more artists may fall short of the standard one would hope to find; that, too, is part of the reality of performance. We have selected performances for inclusion here which display the continuity only a company such as the Staatsoper can provide. In some cases, we provide alternate versions showing the influence of guest conductors or of cast changes, especially when they can be compared with equivalent recordings from the excellent house standard.
Sawallisch suggested and led a cycle with all the Strauss operas in the season 1987/88 when he was Intendant and Generalmusikdirektor. Many of our performances are from this cycle; Friedenstag and Guntram were unique concert performamces during the Opernfestspiele. All others were staged. A planned performance of the first version of Ariadne with Moliere's Bourgeoise gentilhomme as prologue did not come to fruition.
Varnay, Rysanek, King, Bjoner, Ludwig, Uhl, Prey and Kusche were mainstays of both the Wagner and Strauss tradition at the Staatsoper after its reopening in 1963. They are presented here in there last appearances in the house; their experience and know-how conveyed to such younger singers as Hass, Studer, Rootering and Seiffert the special Munich tradition of Strauss singing.
The Rosenkavalier performances under Carlos Kleiber were legendary, the run on the tickets enormous and people queued for days for the privilege of attending. The Munich audience has accepted no other conductor since, not even Peter Schneider in the excellent reading here.
Des Esels Schatten: Composed during 1947-48 and completed by K. Haussner, this curious school opera premiered in Ettal on 7 June 1964. The Staatsoper did not consider it to be a Strauss opera even for the 1987/88 cycle; we accept that opinion and do not include the work here.
Finally and regretfully, we dedicate this issue to the memory of Sabine Hass. Her premature loss deprived the world of an artist whose excellence was only beginning to be recognized outside of Munich. Fortunately, we are able to present her here in many performances of roles in which she endeared herself to a most critical audience. We hope in this way to establish her art in the minds of the many who were unable to hear her on stage.
Again, we thank Operissimo at http://www.operissimo.com/, for the biographies of principal singers included here. The original entries have been translated by volunteers and proofed by the publisher. However, there are undoubtedly errors in the originals and the translations which have eluded us. Still, we hope that they will provide insight with which you can appreciate the careers of the singers heard here and at least start you on your pursuit of commercial releases representing the breadth of their art.
Having reached this point, you have already found at the top of this page a list of the operas in order of composition. Each is linked to a page with performance information and a subsequent link to each Act by performance date along with a synopsis of its action. Clicking a link in that table, you will initiate the sound track itself. The player may be paused, restarted and set as you wish. Note that any changes you make to the settings of WinAmp will not be remembered when you start the program again. We have chosen to permit multiple players on the screen. That facilitates comparative listening, although, of course, only one track may be heard at any time.
The synopses are consistent in form and indicate major cuts in the text performed. Minor omissions of the recording are noted in some cases. Surprising freedom is shown in following the libretti; not all variations are noted. Complete libretti could not reasonably be supplied both because of those variations and because copyright still prevails on even the German texts of some operas. By sliding the position control of the player to approximate the indicated time in the table, you may begin play near that section.
We have chosen to use the least possible processing of the sound which gives acceptable listening and preserves as much as possible of the original material. If you explore the features of the WinAmp player by right-clicking on it when it is active, you will find a Graphic Equalizer which lets you adjust the balance to your taste. Again, those controls must be set each time you start the disc. If you wish the changes to persist, you may prefer to adjust the your playback equipment.
Macintosh users are urged to read macread.htm or macread.txt on this disc as well as the following.
The files on this disc are recorded in MP3 format. Players for such compressed audio are available for most platforms. Since most users of personal computers when this disc was published have 32-bit Windows installed on their systems, we include a licensed browser and a freeware player for their convenience.
Those running Windows who do not find that the browser begins automatically may start it by running I_VIEW.EXE from the root of the CD-ROM drive. Those running other systems, such as Mac and Unix boxes, will need both a browser and an installed MPEG player. Even Windows users may use their preferred browsers equipped with MP3 players. Operation with any browser other than the one on the disc requires that you point it to the CD-ROM and WELCOME.HTM as the URL.
Every effort has been made to ensure that all files are accessible to all users. The prototype of this disc was tested on a variety of computers and all reasonably modern ones have worked in the configurations tested. There is little that can be done if your computer has problems with these files short of upgrading the computer. As an indication of its modest needs, the disc proved fully functional on a Pentium 75 laptop with 8 MB of RAM and a 2x CD-ROM drive.
Those using their own browsers will certainly need no assistance from me. That is fortunate, since it would be difficult to cover all the options of browsers and MP3 plugins and helpers. If you are running the I_VIEW browser on the disc, you should find all operations familiar. Simply click on a link to access it. If you have trouble seeing everything in the browser, please ensure that the page is maximized by clicking the icon one to the left and one down from the top-right corner. Unfortunately, the browser does not 'remember' that setting and you will need to click the icon each time you start the program.
One easy way to integrate MP3 playback into a browser on your PC is to visit http://www.audioactive.com and to download and install the helper appropriate for your system. At the time of publication, they offered helpers not only for Win95, Win98 and NT, but also for Windows 3.x and Macintosh; however, the Macintosh player at this time does not handle our files and the special Mac instructions should be followed instead.
The WinAmp player here is not the current, shareware version but a freeware release quite sufficient for the needs of this disc. We thank the developers at Nullsoft for permission to include this excellent program. WinAmp has been preset to the values needed for operation - which is fortunate, since those values cannot be recorded to the CD-ROM and therefore will return to the presets whenever the disc is first accessed. This disc contains only monaural files.
At this writing, I can be reached by e-mail at mrichter@mindspring.com ,
through http://mrichter.simplenet.com or at
Michael Richter
2600 Colby
Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90064-3716
310-477-7969
With full acknowledgement of the contributions of those who supplied material for this disc; who translated and edited elements; and who reviewed and supported the effort, I assume full responsibility for its contents.
