The German composer Richard Strauss (1864–1949) was prolific and long-lived, writing 16 operas from 1892 up until his death in 1949. Strauss "emerged soon after the deaths of Wagner and Brahms as the most important living German composer", and was crucial in inaugurating the musical style of Modernism. His operas were dominant representatives of the genre in his time, particularly his earlier ones: Salome (1905), Elektra (1909), Der Rosenkavalier (1911) and Ariadne auf Naxos (1912). His earliest work, Der Kampf mit dem Drachen (1876), was a juvenile sketch, and is sometimes not counted as part of his operatic oeuvre; his final opera, (1947–1949), was unfinished at his death and completed by Karl Haussner in 1964.
| + Operas by Richard Strauss[1] | |||||||||
| Period | Title | Genre | Act(s) | Librettist | Premiere | Op. | TrV | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Venue | ||||||||
| 1876 | ? | 1 act | Körner | Unperformed | – | 44 | |||
| 1892–93 | Guntram (revised 1940) | Opera | 3 acts | Strauss | 10 May 1894; revised version: 29 October 1940 | Weimar, Grossherzogliches Hoftheater (both versions) | 25 | 168 | |
| 1900–01 | Feuersnot (Fire Famine) | Singgedicht (sung poem) | 1 act | Wolzogen | Dresden, Königliches Opernhaus | 50 | 203 | ||
| 1903–05 | Salome | Musikdrama | 1 act | Strauss, based on Lachmann's German translation of Wilde | 9 December 1905 | Dresden, Königliches Opernhaus | 54 | 215 | |
| 1906–08 | Elektra | Tragödie | 1 act | Hofmannsthal, after Sophocles's Electra | 25 January 1909 | Dresden, Königliches Opernhaus | 58 | 223 | |
| 1909–10 | Der Rosenkavalier | Komödie für Musik | 3 acts | Hofmannsthal | 26 January 1911 | Dresden, Königliches Opernhaus | 59 | 227 | |
| 1911–12 | Ariadne auf Naxos | Oper | 1 act | Hofmannsthal | 25 October 1912 | Stuttgart, Kleines Haus des Hoftheaters | 60 | 228 | |
| 1915–16 | Ariadne auf Naxos, second version | prologue & Oper | 1 act | Hofmannsthal | 4 October 1916 | Vienna, Kaiserliches und Königliches Hof-Operntheater | 60 (II) | 228a | |
| 1914–17 | Die Frau ohne Schatten | Oper | 3 acts | Hofmannsthal, after Goethe | 10 October 1919 | Vienna, Vienna State Opera | 65 | 234 | |
| 1918–23 | Intermezzo | bürgerliche Komödie mit sinfonischen Zwischenspielen | 2 acts | Strauss | 4 November 1924 | Dresden, Semperoper | 72 | 246 | |
| 1923–27 | Die ägyptische Helena | Oper | 2 acts | Hofmannsthal, after Euripides's Helen | 6 June 1928 | Dresden, Semperoper | 75 | 255 | |
| 14 August 1933 (new version) | Salzburg, Kleines Festspielhaus | ||||||||
| 1929–32 | Arabella | lyrische Komödie (lyric comedy) | 3 acts | Hofmannsthal, after his works | 1 July 1933 | Dresden, Semperoper | 79 | 263 | |
| 1933–34 | Die schweigsame Frau | komische Oper | 3 acts | Zweig, after Jonson's Epicœne, or The silent woman | 24 June 1935 | Dresden, Semperoper | 80 | 265 | |
| 1935–36 | Friedenstag | Oper | 1 act | Gregor | 24 July 1938 | Munich, Bayerische Staatsoper, Nationaltheater | 81 | 271 | |
| 1936–37 | Daphne | bukolische Tragödie | 1 act | Gregor | 15 October 1938 | Dresden, Semperoper | 82 | 272 | |
| 1938–40 | Die Liebe der Danae | heitere Mythologie | 3 acts | Gregor | 14 August 1952 | Salzburg, Kleines Festspielhaus | 83 | 278 | |
| 1940–41 | Capriccio | Konversationsstück für Musik | 1 act | Strauss and Krauss, after Casti | 28 October 1942 | Munich, Bayerische Staatsoper, Nationaltheater | 85 | 279 | |
| 1947–49 | (completed by Haussner) | Komödie | 6 scenes | Adler, after Wieland | 7 June 1964 | Ettal, Ettal Abbey | – | 294 | |