Helen of Troy - Evelyn de Morgan - 1898
"Die Ägyptische Helena" (The Egyptian Helen) is possibly one of the composer's lesser known operas Richard Strauss .
Composed to a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal immediately after "Intermezzo" and before Arabella , work, overwhelmed with a poetic tone, making the figure of Helen of Troy taking elements of both the narratives of
Homer ("Iliad" and "The Odyssey" ) and especially the "Helena" of Euripides , and tells how during the return of Helena and her husband Menelaus to Sparta after the destruction of Troy, come to an island where the witch queen Aithra, who knows the purpose vengeful Menelaus to kill his wife, for giving it to drink a potion that makes him believe that the cause the war was not Helena , but a phantom created by the goddess Hera and his wife remained in Egypt to be so faithful.
Beauty of the protagonist and his power of seduction is the glue of this disparate and very complex plot full of many
symbolism and magic items like potions, goblins, apparitions or the presence of an oyster and omniscient speaker as one of the main characters.
Strauss's music is not enough perhaps the brilliance of his major compositions, but it appears that feature orchestral German pleasure, capable of holding time at the same time subtle and lyrical power, proving extremely challenging for the singers, those who are forced to move in a fiendish tessitura. Strauss
wrote the role of Helena
thinking soprano Maria Jeritza , but it seems that the opera in Dresden considered too high cache of the singer and the paper was finally released on June 6, 1928 by Rethberg Elisabeth, whom Toscanini define in his day as "the most beautiful voice in the world" . Jeritza , curiously, then end up playing the role of Helena in Vienna and New York.
Five years after the première , Strauss substantially changed the work and its revised release held in Salzburg on 14 August 1933.
Today I wanted to bring here the Helena aria "Zweite Brautnacht" (Second wedding night) that opens the second act, and is the most famous piece of this work. In it, while looking in a mirror and arranged her hair, Helena recovered reflects on love and the new wedding night that is living with her husband.
I chose for it to Leontyne Price. Although the American soprano
never sing the role of Helena on stage, but it does included this fragment in some of their albums Part compilations and was common in his recitals. And frankly, few performers have sung like her.
In this aria, Price looks all its virtues songbirds and amazed by the thrust, power and strength of their highs. We hear it live in 1981 accompanied by Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa . The video quality is not very good, but I think it's worth:
video
Onegin65
Composed to a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal immediately after "Intermezzo" and before Arabella , work, overwhelmed with a poetic tone, making the figure of Helen of Troy taking elements of both the narratives of
Homer ("Iliad" and "The Odyssey" ) and especially the "Helena" of Euripides , and tells how during the return of Helena and her husband Menelaus to Sparta after the destruction of Troy, come to an island where the witch queen Aithra, who knows the purpose vengeful Menelaus to kill his wife, for giving it to drink a potion that makes him believe that the cause the war was not Helena , but a phantom created by the goddess Hera and his wife remained in Egypt to be so faithful. Beauty of the protagonist and his power of seduction is the glue of this disparate and very complex plot full of many
symbolism and magic items like potions, goblins, apparitions or the presence of an oyster and omniscient speaker as one of the main characters. Strauss's music is not enough perhaps the brilliance of his major compositions, but it appears that feature orchestral German pleasure, capable of holding time at the same time subtle and lyrical power, proving extremely challenging for the singers, those who are forced to move in a fiendish tessitura. Strauss
wrote the role of Helena
thinking soprano Maria Jeritza , but it seems that the opera in Dresden considered too high cache of the singer and the paper was finally released on June 6, 1928 by Rethberg Elisabeth, whom Toscanini define in his day as "the most beautiful voice in the world" . Jeritza , curiously, then end up playing the role of Helena in Vienna and New York. Five years after the première , Strauss substantially changed the work and its revised release held in Salzburg on 14 August 1933.
Today I wanted to bring here the Helena aria "Zweite Brautnacht" (Second wedding night) that opens the second act, and is the most famous piece of this work. In it, while looking in a mirror and arranged her hair, Helena recovered reflects on love and the new wedding night that is living with her husband.
I chose for it to Leontyne Price. Although the American soprano
never sing the role of Helena on stage, but it does included this fragment in some of their albums Part compilations and was common in his recitals. And frankly, few performers have sung like her. In this aria, Price looks all its virtues songbirds and amazed by the thrust, power and strength of their highs. We hear it live in 1981 accompanied by Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Seiji Ozawa . The video quality is not very good, but I think it's worth:
video
Onegin65
Second wedding night!
Night Magic, very long night of magic! Begun
there, finished here:
hands of gods
retained the first light down into the abyss;
afternoon only
the sun suddenly broke out there on the mountains!
sea pearls, stars of the night,
anointed the body with light.
Dazzled by power, as a child
heart trembled,
educated to fight! Looks
of boys with eyes of heroes
magically turned me girl, I got myself
me wonder, the wonder
hugged me.
But in the melee of the Swans fans, the daughter of the swan
divine beat the mortal man!
He slept at my feathers.
As you keep my treasure,
shining gold store ...
as my treasure on the world of light.
Night Magic, very long night of magic! Begun
there, finished here:
hands of gods
retained the first light down into the abyss;
afternoon only
the sun suddenly broke out there on the mountains!
sea pearls, stars of the night,
anointed the body with light.
Dazzled by power, as a child
heart trembled,
educated to fight! Looks
of boys with eyes of heroes
magically turned me girl, I got myself
me wonder, the wonder
hugged me.
But in the melee of the Swans fans, the daughter of the swan
divine beat the mortal man!
He slept at my feathers.
As you keep my treasure,
shining gold store ...
as my treasure on the world of light.
(translation: Angel Fernando Mayo Antoñanzas)
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