Ariadne auf Naxos, Op. 60, is a 1912 opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The opera's unusual combination of elements of low commedia dell'arte with those of high opera seria points up one of the work's principal themes: the competition between high and low art for the public's attention.
Richard Strauss, 1917, by Emil Orlík
Anne Schwanewilms (Ariadne) and Johan Botha (Bacchus), Hamburg State Opera 2012
Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist.
The house where Hofmannsthal was born, at Salesianergasse 12, Landstraße, Vienna 3
Photograph of his younger son, Raimund