Richard Strauss’ light-hearted comedy “Der Rosenkavalier” combines music, literature and customs. In doing so, it paints an extremely realistic picture of Vienna in the 1840s - even if the tradition of the Rosenkavalier, who delivers a silver rose to the bride on behalf of the groom for the courtship, is an invention.For the libretto, Strauss (1864-1949) had once again teamed up with his friend and literary figure Hugo von Hoffmannsthal. “Der Rosenkavalie” was one of the composer’s most popular works, and in addition to the opera, the non-musical play version was also very popular with audiences.Strauss and von Hoffmannsthal had a very precise idea of their characters: be it the beautiful Field Marshal Princess Werdenberg, who was unhappily married at a very young age, now in her early 30s mourning her youth and distracting herself with amorous adventures; or Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau, a nobleman, albeit somewhat coarse and at the same time an outspoken womanizer, who would like to marry the blood-young Sophie primarily for her dowry, but is himself available for any hanky-panky.Not only in terms of content, but also musically, “Der Rosenkavalier” differs greatly from the two previously composed, avant-garde operas “Salome” and “Elektra”; Viennese waltzes and folk melodies, Baroque allusions with Romantic sensibility are mixed in.

With “Die Frau ohne Schatten” Richard Strauss (1864-1949) created his only opera anchored in the fairy tale world. Written in 1919 under the impressions of the First World War, the opera symbolizes humanity - and at the same time raises numerous mysteries with its profound symbolism.While hunting, the emperor captures a fairy’s daughter and marries her. This marriage bond is bound by the spell that the fairy daughter must become human: to gain the ability to cast a shadow - to become a mother. Otherwise, the empress would have to go to the spirit realm and the emperor would turn to stone. But even shortly before the deadline, the empress still does not cast a shadow. With the help of her manipulative nurse, the empress tries to bargain away the shadow of a married, but deliberately childless dyer. Although the dyer initially agrees, shortly before the end of the deadline it becomes apparent that not only the empress and her husband, but also the dyer couple must face virtuous trials. The dyer, the dyer’s wife and the emperor are able to preserve their virtue. When the empress refuses the offered shadow of the dyer in the last test, because she does not want to destroy another couple’s happiness, she achieves true humanity and the spell is broken.