Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten

Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman Without a Shadow) was first heard at the Vienna State Opera on October 10, 1919. Though admired by many, it had a mixed reception. The libretto by Strauss’s favorite collaborator Hugo von Hofmannsthal is deliberately intended as a sort of late-Romantic Magic Flute, heavy in symbolism and whimsical magic, though it is far darker. This live performance from Salzburg in 1974 with a legendary cast, known as Böhm’s “Straussian family,” who performed Die Frau ohne Schatten all over the world to universal acclaim. One of the finest things in this recording is the peerless portrayal of the Dyer’s Wife by Christa Ludwig, which is missing from the DG recording with similar cast and same conductor.

“Other recordings of Die Frau ohne Schatten have been in and out of the catalogue, some even with similar casts. This version … may be the most vital, most stylish, most moving, and the best-balanced … Christa Ludwig brings astonishing ease, amplitude and emotional fervor to the arching passions of the Dyer’s Wife … Rysanek … is emphatically at her best here.” — OPERA NEWS