Strauss: Friedenstag

Friedenstag is at once Richard Strauss (1864-1949) last operatic collaboration with his librettist Stefan Zweig and his first with Joseph Gregor. The themes of the opera – set in the mid 17th century are about the highest humanitarian and liberal ideals – themes Zweig devised from the factual events from the Thirty Years War. The challenge that faced Strauss and Gregor was how to express this message in the Third Reich, where such well intentioned themes could be hijacked by the Nazis as reflecting the regimes ideal and proclaiming it ‘the first Nazi opera’. Zweig by the time this work was composed had fled Germany, but remained on cordial terms with Strauss, and it has been argued that of all their operatic collaborations this is the one where Zweig’s lofty ideals are most obvious. However, a combination of Strauss’s music which descends to an empty jingoistic martial style in places, and the abandonment of Zweig’s words on reconciliation in place of a long chorus of rejoicing and triumphalism – music to Goebel’s ears no doubt. The work stands apart from the canon of Strauss’s operas, and has only a tenuous hold on the repertoire – an example of lofty ideals sacrificed on the alter of political expediency. Gregor steered the composer towards less controversial operatic themes such as Daphne. Other information • Recording made in 1999 • Rare repertoire