Die Frau ohne Schatten, Op. 65, is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with a libretto by his long-time collaborator, the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It was written between 1911 and either 1915 or 1917. When it premiered at the Vienna State Opera on 10 October 1919, critics and audiences were unenthusiastic. Many cited problems with Hofmannsthal's complicated and heavily symbolic libretto. However, it is now a standard part of the operatic repertoire.
Costume design by Alfred Roller for the premiere, for the role of the Nurse
Strauss in 1917, portrait by Emil Orlík
Nicola Beller Carbone [de] as The Dyer's Wife, Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, 2014
Strauss by Hans Schliesmann, 1918
Richard Georg Strauss was a German composer and conductor best known for his tone poems and operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt. Along with Gustav Mahler, he represents the late flowering of German Romanticism, in which pioneering subtleties of orchestration are combined with an advanced harmonic style.
Portrait of Strauss by Max Liebermann (1918)
Strauss aged 22
Pauline de Ahna Strauss, c. 1900
Strauss villa at Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Built 1906. Architect: Emanuel Seidl.