Ariadne auf Naxos might be the most nonstandard opera by the outstanding tandem of composer Richard Strauss and poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is not only because of the story of its creation. It seemed to unite what cannot be united: a crude comedy and a lofty tragedy, Viennese primness and mischief, and the masks from the Italian commedia dell'arte.

The story of its creation started in 1911, when Richard Strauss and his constant co-author Hugo von Hofmannsthal decided to thank director Max Reinhardt for his invaluable help with the preparation of the world premiere of the opera Der Rosenkavalier. Hofmannsthal wrote to his father: “Together we wish to create a completely unusual opera, exclusively for a chamber cast that will be performed at Reinhardt’s as an insertion in a production”. At the time, Hofmannsthal was reworking the play Le Bourgeois gentilhomme by Molière and planned to use Ariadne auf Naxos as the ending to his recomposed play: “It is one of the most private and most dear works for me; it was conceived as a complete play, consisting of parts, it can exist, can appear only where a lofty theatre genius is capable of arranging the parts…”