Die ägyptische Helena
Die ägyptische Helena ("The Egyptian Helen"), Op. 75, is an opera in two acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It premiered at the Dresden Semperoper on 6 June 1928. Strauss had written the title role with Maria Jeritza in mind but, creating quite a sensation at the time, the Dresden opera management refused to pay Jeritza's large fee and cast Elisabeth Rethberg instead as Helen of Troy. Jeritza eventually created the part in Vienna and New York City.

As inspiration for the story, Hofmannsthal used sources from Euripides ("Helen"). Strauss made changes to the opera in 1933, five years after the premiere, working with the director Lothar Wallenstein and the conductor Clemens Krauss.
Q385271
Op.
Concept
Q1344
opera
Concept
Q13894
Richard Strauss
PER
Q51513
Hugo von Hofmannsthal
PER
Q127097
Semperoper
LOC
Q78590
Maria Jeritza
PER
Q68911
Elisabeth Rethberg
PER
Q48305
Euripides
PER
Q1248812
Helen
MEDIA
Q78918
Clemens Krauss
PER
Q1220040
Die ägyptische Helena
MEDIA
1928-06-06T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
6 June 1928
DATE
1933-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1933
DATE
+75^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
75
NUMBER
instance of
composer
librettist
location of first performance
date of first performance
genre
notable work
author