Die Liebe Der Danae - Performance History

Performance History

Contradicting his original refusal to allow the first performance until after the war, it appears that Strauss had granted to Clemens Krauss as early as November 1942 permission to perform the opera as part of the Salzburg Festival. In a letter to the composer, Krauss states that "I shall then bring the work to its first performance in celebration of your 80th birthday" which would take place on 11 June 1944.

Arrangements were made for mid-August performances in 1944, but, following the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler, Joseph Goebbels declared "total war" and closed all theatres within the Third Reich, resulting in the work not being allowed a public staging. The Nazis did however permit a single dress rehearsal in Salzburg, conducted by Clemens Krauss on 16 August, in order that Strauss and an invited audience could hear the work performed. During an orchestral rehearsal before the private presentation, Strauss walked down to the orchestral rail in order to listen closely to the beautiful final interlude in the last act. Rudolf Hartmann, the opera's original producer, wrote of the incident:

Towards the end of the second scene (Act 3) Strauss stood up and went down to the front row of stalls. His unmistakeable head stood out in lonely silhouette against the light rising from the pit. The Viennese were playing the wonderful interlude before the last scene ('Jupiter's renunciation', Strauss once called it) with an unsurpassably beautiful sound. Quite immobile, totally oblivious to all else, he stood listening.

Hartmann went on to describe how, as the performance continued, those who witnessed the scene, (were)

profoundly moved and stirred to our depths, sensed the almost physical presence of our divinity, art...Several moments of profound silence followed after the last notes died away...Kraus spoke a few sentences outlining the significance of these last days in Salzburg. Strauss looked over the rail of the pit, raised his hands in a gesture of gratitude and spoke to the orchestra in a voice choked with tears: 'Perhaps we shall meet again in a better world'. He was unable to say any more...Silent and deeply moved, everyone present remained still as he left the auditorium.

In more recent years, the work has received only sporadic performances, mainly on account of its considerable vocal demands and the complexity of its stage directions. Nevertheless Strauss connoisseurs tend to have a special regard for the work. The eminent critic and Strauss biographer, Michael Kennedy, has written:

The treatment of the many themes and motifs is amazingly inventive, the orchestral colours glow and shine - with Greek gold and mediterranean sunlight...Die Liebe der Danae does not deserve its neglect. Its third act alone lifts it into the category of first-rank Strauss.

The first public performance, also under Krauss, was at the Salzburg Festival on 14 August 1952, after Strauss' death in 1949. It was then given at the Royal Opera House in London on 16 September 1953, under Rudolf Kempe. The first American performance was at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles on 10 April 1964. It was given as part of the 1982 and 1985 summer festival seasons by The Santa Fe Opera conducted by company founder and lifelong Strauss enthusiast John Crosby. The Semperoper in Dresden gave three performances of the opera in March 2009. ``In 2006 Renée Fleming recorded the final interlude and Danae's aria from Act III with the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre conducted by Valery Gergiev for a Decca CD entitled Homage: The Age of the Diva. The Bard SummerScape Festival mounted a new production of the full opera in 2011 with Meagan Miller in the title role, with the American Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leon Botstein and directed by Kevin Newbury; it was also recorded and released commercially in digital format.