We’re turning to two of Richard Strauss’ lesser-known one-act operas on this week’s Sunday Opera (5/10 3:00 p.m.): “Daphne” and “Feuersnot” (“The Need for Fire” or “Lack of Fire”) instead of his more often performed “Salome” or “Elektra.”
“Daphne” was first performed in 1938 and is loosely based on the myth of Ovid’s “Metamorphosis” about the chaste maid of the title (June Anderson) who is pursued by a childhood friend, Leukippos (Roberto Sacca), and the god Apollo (Scott MacAllister).
Apollo accidentally kills Leukippos and, in regret, arranges for Daphne to become a part of the nature she loves by changing into a tree to protect her from other men.
The cast also includes Birgit Remmert as Gaea and Daniel Lewis Williams as Peneios with the Teatro La Fenice di Venezia Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Stefan Anton Reck.
“Feuersnot” or “The Lack of Fire” from 1901 is said to be a parody of Richard Wagner’s concept of “redemption through love.” Here, the alchemist Kunrad (Bernd Weikl) falls in love with Diemut (Julia Varady), the daughter of the mayor (Helmut Berger-Tuna) of the city to which he has just come.
However, Diemut does not reciprocate his affections and leaves him dangling, literally, when he tries to call on her. In retaliation, Kunrad extinguishes the bonfires (and all other flames) that are an integral part of the solstice celebrations and says they will only be rekindled by the “body of a virgin in heat” which shocks the townspeople (as it did the audiences and censors of the time). As shocking as it is, it does bring the opera to a happy ending for everyone involved.
This cast also includes Ruthild Engert-Ely, Kaja Borris, Elisabeth Wachutka, Hans Dieter Bader, Manfred Schenk, Raimund Grumbach, Waldemar Wild, Kieth Engen, Fridrich Lenz, Marga Schiml, Willi Brokmeier, and Andrea Trauboth with the Bavarian Radio Chorus and the Munich Radio Orchestra with Heinze Fricke, conducting.
We’ll finish the afternoon with more music of Strauss that follows the idea of change with his Metamorphosen (performed by the English String Orchestra conducted by William Boughton) which some have come to believe was his response to the change and destruction of Germany seen at the end of the war although Strauss never admitted to it.
