A Strauss tale too good to be true

Synopsis

The real story behind Richard Strauss’ decision to use a chamber orchestra for his opera “Ariadne on Naxos” is rather complicated and frankly mundane. We prefer a much more “colorful” version, even though it may be as imaginary as the Greek myth of poor Ariadne herself.

In any case, here’s how some fanciful Germans claim it all came about when Strauss’s opera was premiered in Stuttgart on today’s date in 1912:

Back when a new opera house was being planned for that city, Strauss was asked how large the orchestral pit should be. “Oh, it should hold about 100 players,” he suggested. So, to determine the size required for the new theater’s pit, the architects rather naively asked the local military band to assemble 100 players, have them stand at attention, and measured the amount of space they occupied.

Now, as you might expect, soldiers standing at attention take up a lot less space than an equal number of seated string players, not to mention trombonists and timpanists. And so, the resulting space in the new theater could only accommodate a chamber orchestra.

And as luck would have it, the Stuttgart Opera was also eager to launch the brand-new opera by Strauss. When he learned what had happened, Strauss had a good laugh, but, being the eminently practical sort he was, simply wrote his new opera for chamber ensemble of about 40 players.

Fact or fantasy, that’s how they like to tell it in Stuttgart.

Music Played in Today's Program

Richard Strauss (1861 – 1949) Ariadne auf Naxos Vienna Philharmonic; James Levine, cond. DG 419 225

On This Day

Births

• 1825 - Austrian composer and conductor Johann Strauss, Jr. (aka "The Younger," or II), in Vienna;

• 1838 - French composer Georges Bizet, in Paris;

• 1864 - Russian composer Alexander Grechaninov, in Moscow (see Julian date: Oct. 13);

• 1923 - Australian composer Don Banks, in South Melbourne;

Premieres

• 1823 - Weber: opera "Euryanthe," in Vienna at the Kärtnertor Theater;

• 1848 - Verdi: opera "Il Corsaro" (The Corsair), in Trieste at the Teatro Grande;

• 1875 - Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 23, at the Music Hall in Boston, by the orchestra of the Harvard Musical Association conducted by B.J. Lang, with Hans von Bülow as soloist;

• 1885 - Brahms: Symphony No. 4 in Meiningen, Germany, with the composer conducting;

• 1912 - R. Strauss: opera, "Ariadne auf Naxos," and incidental music to "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme," in Stuttgart at the Hoftheater (Kleines Haus), with the composer conducting, and vocal soloists Maria Jeritza (Ariadne), Margarethe Siems (Zerbinetta), and Hermann Jadlowker (Bacchus); A revised version of this work (with a newly composed prologue) premiered at the Vienna Court Opera on Oct. 4, 1916;

• 1923 - Milhaud: ballet, "La Création du Monde," in Paris, by the Ballets Suédois at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées;

• 1949 - Frank Martin: Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments, Timpani, Percussion, and Strings, by the orchestra of the Bern Musickgesellschaft, Luc Balmer conducting;

• 1958 - Janácek: opera "Fate" (1st staged performance) in Brno at the National Theater; This opera was written in 1904 and was premiered in a concert performance by the Brno Radio on September 18, 1934;

• 1973 - Martinu: Violin Concerto (composed in 1932), by the Chicago Symphony, Sir Georg Solti conducting, with Josef Suk as soloist;

• 1979 - Earl Kim: Violin Concerto, by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Zubin Mehta, with Itzhak Perlman as soloist;

• 1986 - Christopher Rouse: "Phantasmata" (first complete performance of three orchestral pieces composed 1981-85: "The Evestrum of Juan de la Cruz in the Sagrada Familia, 3 A.M."; "The Infernal Machine"; and "Bump"), by the St. Louis Symphony, Leonard Slatkin conducting;