San Francisco Opera broadcasts continue on Classical 90.5 at noon this Saturday, September 27, with a performance of Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman without a Shadow) by Richard Strauss, with a libretto by his long-time collaborator, the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The performance will be sung in German and will run approximately four hours.
This performance of the San Francisco Opera’s 1976 production of Die Frau ohne Schatten, featuring soprano Leonie Rysanek and led by distinguished conductor and noted Strauss expert Karl Böhm, is being presented in celebration of the 150th anniversary of Richard Strauss's birth. The performance was recorded on October 15, 1976, at San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House. As noted, the production marked the Company debut of one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, Karl Böhm, who leads the 91-piece San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus in Strauss’ musically complex and mystical masterwork. Maestro Böhm’s affinity for the works of Richard Strauss meant that his performances were long regarded as definitive interpretations, but he was particularly lauded around the world for championing Die Frau ohne Schatten. San Francisco Opera gave the United States premiere of Die Frau ohne Schatten in 1959, and for the special occasion of the 1976 presentation, late San Francisco Opera General Director Kurt Herbert Adler brought in the young German director Nikolaus Lehnhoff to create a new production for the Company. Lehnhoff’s success with Die Frau ohne Schatten led to his several returns to San Francisco Opera, most notably for the Company’s acclaimed 1985 Ring cycle.
Die Frau ohne Schatten is the somewhat confusing fairy-tale story of a half-spirit Empress, married to a human, who needs to obtain a shadow to become fully human and to prevent her father, the ruler of the spirit world, from losing his power and herself from being recalled to the spiritual plane her father inhabits. Also at stake is the fate of the Empress's husband, the Emperor, who will be turned to stone in three days if she fails. With no options, the Empress is enticed by her scheming nurse to convince a human woman, a dyer's wife, to sell her shadow in return for the promise of riches and a handsome young lover. Fortunately, love and compassion prevail in a happy ending that reunites the Empress and Emperor, and the dyer and his wife.
THE CAST
The Empress: Leonie Rysanek
The Emperor: Matti Kastu
The Nurse: Ruth Hesse
The Dyer's Wife: Ursula Schröder-Feinen
Barak, the Dyer: Walter Berry
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