Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago

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Music from the opera, Op. 60
Score: boosey.com/cr/perusals/score?id=38727
Audio: youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nIomNa91kQ_jWiTPqIgNvoh6DiQHe4Fs4
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
JoAnn Falletta, conductor

_Ariadne auf Naxos_ was written by Richard Strauss for an orchestration of only 36 musicians and the expert chamber-sized orchestration absolutely sparkles. It is remarkable that no significant orchestral suite had previously been published for concert performance.

My aim in extracting and arranging music from _Ariadne_ was to create an orchestral suite that could act as a kind of continuous orchestral symphony in the presentation and development of the main themes from the opera. I maintained Strauss' original instrumentation throughout, with the exception of having 2nd oboe double on English horn, an instrument which proved ideal for taking over some vocal lines. The music and original keys remain unchanged, with the addition of orchestrating the musical lines that were originally written for voice. I attempted to create seamless, logical transitions between the excerpts, using Strauss' musical material.

The resulting Symphony-Suite was premiered by the Nashville Symphony under Giancarlo Guerrero in 2011, 99 years after the original premiere of the opera in 1912.

The Symphony-Suite is divided into 7 continuous sections:

0:00 Prologue
The Prologue (from music added in 1916) acts as the introduction to the "symphony", introducing us to all of the major musical themes from the opera which are "developed" one at a time in the subsequent sections of the suite.

5:08 Duet
The tender and lyrical Duet "Ein Augenblick ist wenig" [A glance is greater than a moment], also from the 1916 prologue, was originally between the characters of Zerbinetta and the Composer as she flirts with him to make the changes to his opera that she wants.

9:02 Waltz
The charming Waltz, "Eine Störrische zu trösten" [Discard such worries] was originally sung by Zerbinetta and 3 of her male admirers. Originally a virtuoso coloratura aria, this waltz's orchestration is no less virtuostic.

15:13 Overture
The Overture is the slow, beautiful music that introduces the "opera within an opera", and eventually forms Ariadne's aria "Ein Schones war" [There was such beauty]. It acts as the slow middle movement of this suite—justly famous for its tranquil beauty, which begins as a string sextet before expanding for the full chamber orchestra.

20:00 Aria
Ariadne's beautiful Aria "Es gibt ein Reich" [There is a realm] is her belief that death would be liberation from her sorrows. It is a stunning example of the care taken to accompany the female singers Strauss championed.

26:21 Interlude
The Interlude is an absolutely charming orchestral episode that was drastically cut after the 1912 performances (for time reasons). It is Strauss at his instrumental best, building to a feverish climax that gives way, leading directly into the Finale.

30:42 Finale
Ingeniously, Strauss uses a variation of the waltz-like theme from the Interlude as the initial theme in the Finale, considerably slowed down to bring out the deep emotions of Ariadne as she is sheds her grief with a new love "Gibt es kein Hinuber?" [Where is the passage?] at the conclusion of the opera. The Finale smartly recalls several themes from earlier in the opera, which serves as a fitting closing movement to the symphony-suite. - D. Wilson Ochoa