German Post-Wagnerian Opera. Richard Strauss

Richard Wagner’s scenic creations are considered the pinnacle of the genre in the 19th century for their technical-vocal difficulty, coupled with the need for endurance acquired over time through proper study, as well as a turning point in the entire history of music, for their innovative visions and impact on subsequent composers. Convinced of Wagner’s influence on the European cultural music scene, the second stage of the research focused on the composers who appeared in the German-Austrian area, particularly in the first decades of the 20th century, and who produced countless masterpieces, expressions of visions based on the various forms of reference to tradition and the obsessive tendency towards innovation, such as the treatment and deepening of psychological dramas, of ancient myths seen as symbols in which the great mysteries of the soul, human complexes and human powerlessness in the face of the all-powerful forces of destiny, of divinity, are found: Eugen d’Albert’s opera Tiefland, Hans Pfitzner’s musical legend Palestrina, Alexander von Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg, Erich Korngold’s Die tote Stadt and Alban Berg’s expressionist opera Wozzeck. The “core” of the research concerns two of the most important operatic works given to posterity by the composer Richard Strauss in partnership with the famous librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal: Die Frau ohne Schatten The Woman without Shadow and Die ägyptische Helena The Egyptian Helen, which stand out for their original, syncretic vision, fuelled by a compositional talent of unfailing inspiration that the composer would consciously explore and exploit, completing the creation of post-Wagner German opera.