Join us for an afternoon of the music of Richard Strauss on this week’s Sunday Opera (3/9 3:00 p.m.) and his opera completed in 1940, “Die Liebe der Danae” (“The Love of Danae”). The opera is in three acts with the final act containing what Strauss considered to be some of his finest music.
The opera’s libretto is by Joseph Gregor and is based on a canovaccio or theatrical outline by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It deals with a bit of mythology that centers on the amorous adventures of Jupiter and his latest infatuation with the title character.
Danae (Manuela Uhl) is the daughter of King Pollux (Paul McNamara) has had the recurring dream featuring a man in golden armor who appears to her in a shower of gold. Her four cousins, Semele (Susanne Bernard), Europa (Cornelia Zach), Alkmene (Gro Bente Kjellevold), and Leda (Katharina Peetz) are traveling with the four kings who are grandsons of Pollux: Renate Behle, Martin Fleitmann, Simon Pauly, and Hans Georg Ahrens to try to find a suitor for Danae.
Enter Midas (Robert Chafin) who has the golden touch which was bestowed upon him by Jupiter with the caveat that he must obey Jupiter’s every command, or he will revert to his old life as a poor donkey driver. However, Midas is in disguise and is not Danae’s golden dream, but she is attracted to him anyway. That’s when Jupiter arrives, entirely in gold and intent on seducing Danae the way he had her four cousins when he took the form of a cloud or storm, a bull, a warrior, and a swan.
Jupiter and Midas vie for Danae’s affections, and she is eventually turned into a golden statue by Midas’ touch. Jupiter attempts to take her, but Midas suggests that she choose with whom she wants to stay. Danae chooses Midas, and Midas and she are transported far away to live happily in poverty, very much in love.
The cast in this recording also includes Hans-Juergen Schoepflin as Mercury and Cornelia Zach as Danae’s maid, Xanthe. They’re joined by the Kiel Opera Chorus and Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Ulrich Windfuhr.
We’ll continue our time together with another, more familiar work by Strauss. His 1915 work that went through many changes before its completion: Eine Alpensinfonie (A Alpine Symphony). This large tone poem depicts a day of many moods over eleven hours spent climbing an Alpine mountain. Here, we’ll hear the Staatskapelle Weimar conducted by Antoni Wit.
