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Josephs Legende

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Léonide Massine as Joseph in La Légende de Joseph (1914)

Josephs Legende (The Legend of Joseph), Op. 63, is a ballet in one act for the Ballets Russes based on the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, with a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Harry von Kessler and music by Richard Strauss. Composed from 1912 to 1914, it premiered at the Paris Opera on 14 May 1914.[1]

Composition

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Hugo von Hofmannsthal first proposed Josephs Legende to Strauss as a Zwischenarbeit (interim work) between Ariadne auf Naxos and Die Frau ohne Schatten. Composition began in June 1912, but in a letter of 11 September Strauss confided that the work was not progressing as quickly as he expected: "The chaste Joseph himself isn't at all up my street, and if a thing bores me I find it difficult to set it to music. This God-seeker Joseph – he's going to be a hell of an effort!"[2][3]

Strauss drew on earlier sketches for his abandoned ballet Die Insel Kythere and wrote for an outsized orchestra with exotic instrumental colouring including four harps, large and small cymbals, four pairs of castanets, heckelphone, and a contrabass clarinet.[4]

Instrumentation

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Josephs Legende is scored for the following instruments:

Performance history

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Strauss in London, June 1914 to conduct the UK premiere of Josephs Legende

With Diaghilev as impresario, Nijinsky as choreographer and creator of the title role – replaced after his marriage and fall from grace by Fokine and Massine – costumes by Léon Bakst and Alexandre Benois, scenic design after Veronese by Josep Maria Sert, and Strauss conducting the premiere, the initial run lasted seven performances.

This was shortly followed by a further seven in London in June conducted by Richard Strauss (UK premiere 23 June) and Sir Thomas Beecham, who had loaned the money for the commission to Diaghilev.[5][6] With the looming war, Strauss never received his fee of 6,000 francs.[7]

Later choreographers included George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, and John Neumeier, but none of their versions was considered more successful.[8]

Symphonic fragment

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In 1947, Strauss prepared a symphonic fragment from Josephs Legende for reduced orchestra.[9] This was premiered in February 1949 in San Antonio under Max Reiter.

Recordings

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Audio

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Video

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Gilliam, Bryan; Youmans, Charles (2001). "Strauss, Richard (Georg)". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.40117. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. (subscription required).
  2. ^ A Working Friendship: The Correspondence between Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Translated by Hanns Hammelmann; Ewald Osers. Random House. 1961. p. 142.
  3. ^ Heisler, Wayne (2009). The Ballet Collaborations of Richard Strauss. University of Rochester Press. pp. 46, 63f.
  4. ^ Del Mar, Norman (2009) [1969]. Richard Strauss: A Critical Commentary on His Life and Works II. Faber & Faber. pp. 133, 144–145.
  5. ^ Heisler 2009, p. 240.
  6. ^ Lesnig, Günther (1996). "75 Jahre seit der 'Deutschen Uraufführung' von Josephs Legende". Richard Strauss-Blätter (in German). 36. Hollitzer Verlag: 3–51. doi:10.2307/j.ctvg8p316.3. JSTOR j.ctvg8p316.3.[page range too broad]
  7. ^ Kennedy, Michael (2006). Richard Strauss: Man, Musician, Enigma. Cambridge University Press. p. 208.
  8. ^ Michael Oliver, Review of "The Unknown Richard Strauss, Volume 13" (CD), Gramophone, December 2001, p. 63.
  9. ^ Del Mar 2009, pp. 148–150.
  10. ^ Greenfield, Edward (14 July 2000). "The man who dared to monkey with Beethoven". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
  11. ^ Ashley, Tim (13 April 2007). "Strauss: Josephslegende; Budapest Festival Orchestra/Fischer". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
  12. ^ Josephs Legende, Op. 63, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Hiroshi Wakasugi. Nippon Columbia, 1988
  13. ^ Josephs Legende (1977), Naxos Video Library.
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