Midnight Music

He composed operas while fantasizing about ballets – Richard Strauss's first ballet was a long time coming. Although he began composing a ballet entitled Kythere as early as 1900, he had to wait until 1912 for the ideal circumstances in the world of ballet. That was when Hugo von Hofmannstahl, the librettist of Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier, and Ariadne, recommended some topics. Eventually they agreed on the adventurous story of Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob. The main motivation, was not the subject matter, but the fact that it was commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev with the promise - later broken - that the role of Joseph would be danced by the legendary Vaslav Nijinsky. The premiere was at the Paris Opera in May 1914, conducted by the composer and starring Léonide Massine. The outbreak of the war and the grandiose orchestral apparatus – quadruple woodwinds, four harps, keyboards, a range of percussion instruments and split strings – which is astonishing even for Strauss, contributed to the piece's fall into oblivion. The story, which takes place in Potiphar’s palace, includes several exotic and exciting dance movements (love, struggle, the supernatural, seduction, hatred, hysteria, torture, and help from Heaven) making not only the plot, but also the music colorful.