Between 1892 and 1941, Richard Strauss wrote some of the world’s most important operatic masterworks amidst several periods of national and global upheaval. Tracing the evolution of Strauss’s operatic output reveals not only a dynamic compositional presence—one that evolves from cheeky ingenue to radical modernist to elegant piquant and beyond—but highlights the shifting nature of the artform itself. Key to Strauss’s operatic ingenuity is his writing for female voice (particularly soprano), his choice of librettists, and his sheer aesthetic versatility.

DELIVERY MODE

• Face-to-Face

COURSE OUTLINE

• Guntram and Feuersnot: Post-Wagnerian innovations
• Salome: Jewishness, exoticism, and the femme fatale
• Elektra: Sophoclean dramatism and operatic psychoanalysis
• Der Rosenkavalier: A retreat from modernism or the most modern of all?
• Ariadne auf Naxos (first and second versions): operatic transcendence and the meta-opera
• Die Frau ohne Schatten, Die ägyptische Helena, and Arabella: the final Hofmannsthal operas
• Post-Hofmannsthal Operas: Stefan Zweig and Joseph Gregor
• Capriccio: The final operatic conundrum, revisited

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Identify Strauss’s major operatic works by means of overall plot, key themes, central characters, major musical moments, and notable recordings associated with each work
2. Articulate the significance of each operatic work in terms of Strauss’s overall operatic oeuvre and in wider cultural milieu
3. Understand the ways in which concurrent sociopolitical events influenced each of the opera’s composition and premieres
4. Understand the relationship Strauss had with each of his librettists and the roles that each librettist played in the conception and composition of each work