Full score, studienpartitur. 8vo. 299 pp. [PN] 9126. An important association copy, inscribed on the verso ffe, opposite title, to Laszlo Halasz, conductor of the first New York performance of the opera, inscribed "Lazlo [sic] Halasz, in aufrichtiger Werstschätzung dankbar ergeben [in sincere appreciation, gratefully devoted], Richard Strauss / London 29.10.47." Gilt-stamped red boards, quarter tan cloth with author and title stamped in red to spine. Corners a bit worn, unmarked internally and overall fine. A remarkable copy.
As initially conceived by Strauss and Hofmannsthal, Ariadne was designed to be performed after a performance of Molière's "Le bourgeois gentilhomme" (Der Bürger als Edelmann), the latter being provided with incidental music by Strauss. The premiere of the first version of Ariadne (a later revision of 1916 sacrificed the incidental music to the Molière part of the score) took place in Stuttgart on 25 October 1912. The opera was first heard in the US in 1928 (Philadelphia) but not until 1946 in New York. In his New York Times review of October 11, 1946, Olin Downes swooned that "The astonishing performance...by the New York City Opera Company, when the work was given its first professional performance in this city, must rank as one of the finest operatic interpretations witnessed hereabouts in years...And unstinted praise must go to the performance of the orchestra under Mr. Halasz's baton. It was a triumph of tone, of artistic phrasing, balance, rhythmical elasticity and precision and adroit tone coloring."
Laszlo Halasz (1905–2001) was a Hungarian-born American conductor, pianist and opera director, and a major figure in the history of American classical music and opera. Born in Debrecen, Hungary, he studied at the Liszt Academy in Budapest with Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, Ernő Dohnányi and Leó Weiner, and went on to serve as assistant to George Szell in Prague, to Arturo Toscanini and Bruno Walter at the Salzburg Festival, and to Toscanini at the NBC Symphony, before becoming artistic and music director of the St. Louis Grand Opera. In 1943 he became the first music director of the New York City Opera, where, as the obituary in The New York Times (October 31, 2001) recounts, he established essential elements of the company’s artistic identity: low ticket prices, convincingly staged productions with singers suited to their roles, opera in English, and an important platform for young singers, particularly Americans. The Times judged his most important contribution to be his insistence that the repertory include new works as well as the standard ones, making City Opera one of the country’s most adventurous houses; under his direction the company gave the world premiere of William Grant Still’s Troubled Island and the first New York performance of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, and engaged the baritone Todd Duncan a decade before Marian Anderson broke the color line at the Metropolitan Opera. After leaving City Opera he began a second career as a record producer for the Remington label, conducted opera in Frankfurt, Barcelona, Budapest, London and South America, and taught on the conducting faculties of the Peabody Conservatory and the Eastman School of Music.
Full score, studienpartitur. 8vo. 299 pp. [PN] 9126. An important association copy, inscribed on the verso ffe, opposite title, to Laszlo Halasz, conductor of the first New York performance of the opera, inscribed "Lazlo [sic] Halasz, in aufrichtiger Werstschätzung dankbar ergeben [in sincere appreciation, gratefully devoted], Richard Strauss / London 29.10.47." Gilt-stamped red boards, quarter tan cloth with author and title stamped in red to spine. Corners a bit worn, unmarked internally and overall fine. A remarkable copy.
As initially conceived by Strauss and Hofmannsthal, Ariadne was designed to be performed after a performance of Molière's "Le bourgeois gentilhomme" (Der Bürger als Edelmann), the latter being provided with incidental music by Strauss. The premiere of the first version of Ariadne (a later revision of 1916 sacrificed the incidental music to the Molière part of the score) took place in Stuttgart on 25 October 1912. The opera was first heard in the US in 1928 (Philadelphia) but not until 1946 in New York. In his New York Times review of October 11, 1946, Olin Downes swooned that "The astonishing performance...by the New York City Opera Company, when the work was given its first professional performance in this city, must rank as one of the finest operatic interpretations witnessed hereabouts in years...And unstinted praise must go to the performance of the orchestra under Mr. Halasz's baton. It was a triumph of tone, of artistic phrasing, balance, rhythmical elasticity and precision and adroit tone coloring."
Laszlo Halasz (1905–2001) was a Hungarian-born American conductor, pianist and opera director, and a major figure in the history of American classical music and opera. Born in Debrecen, Hungary, he studied at the Liszt Academy in Budapest with Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, Ernő Dohnányi and Leó Weiner, and went on to serve as assistant to George Szell in Prague, to Arturo Toscanini and Bruno Walter at the Salzburg Festival, and to Toscanini at the NBC Symphony, before becoming artistic and music director of the St. Louis Grand Opera. In 1943 he became the first music director of the New York City Opera, where, as the obituary in The New York Times (October 31, 2001) recounts, he established essential elements of the company’s artistic identity: low ticket prices, convincingly staged productions with singers suited to their roles, opera in English, and an important platform for young singers, particularly Americans. The Times judged his most important contribution to be his insistence that the repertory include new works as well as the standard ones, making City Opera one of the country’s most adventurous houses; under his direction the company gave the world premiere of William Grant Still’s Troubled Island and the first New York performance of Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, and engaged the baritone Todd Duncan a decade before Marian Anderson broke the color line at the Metropolitan Opera. After leaving City Opera he began a second career as a record producer for the Remington label, conducted opera in Frankfurt, Barcelona, Budapest, London and South America, and taught on the conducting faculties of the Peabody Conservatory and the Eastman School of Music.