“Schweigt doch: Ich hab es nicht getan!” from Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman without a Shadow), Opus 65 (1919) The premiere of Die Frau ohne Schatten took place in Vienna, Austria, at the Vienna Staatsoper on October 10, 1919, with Franz Schalk, conducting. “Schweigt doch: Ich hab es nicht getan” is scored for soprano and bass solo, three flutes, two oboes, English horn, E-flat clarinet, two clarinets, bass clarinet, basset clarinet, three bassoons, contrabassoon, eight horns, four Wagner tubas, three trumpets, four trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, two harps, Sergeiceleste, Prokofiev organ and strings. Approximate performance time is eleven minutes.
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fter the success Elektra (1909), Strauss informed Hugo von Hofmannsthal that he wished to compose “a Mozart opera.” Early in 1909, the two agreed on the plot that was to become the basis of Der Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose). Hofmannsthal described the story in the following manner: “(A) pompous, fat, and elderly suitor favored by the father has his nose put out of joint by a dashing lover—could anything be plainer?” Der Rosenkavalier was an immediate and resounding success. Within a year of the Dresden premiere on January 26, 1911, the Königliches Opernhaus presented fifty sold-out performances. Special “Rosenkavalier trains” transported eager opera lovers from Berlin and neighboring towns to Dresden. Strauss was anxious to embark immediately on a new operatic project with Hofmannsthal. The author suggested two possibilities, one of which became their next collaboration, Ariadne auf Naxos (1912, rev. 1916). The other subject Hofmannsthal proposed was “a magic fairy tale” of two couples. Over time, this “magic fairy tale” developed into the epic three-act opera, Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman without a Shadow). Progress on Die Frau ohne Schatten proved to be slow. Strauss worked on the project for more than three years. By contrast, Strauss wrote Der Rosenkavalier (a work of comparable length) in seventeen months. Certainly the outbreak of the First World War had a great deal to do with this (Hofmannsthal served in the military during the conflict). Also, Strauss spent considerable time on his revision of Ariadne auf Naxos, as well as the huge orchestral work, An Alpine Symphony (1915). Strauss finally completed Die Frau’s final act in September of 1916. Both Strauss and Hofmannsthal agreed that the premiere of Die Frau ohne Schatten should await the conclusion of the War. The first performance took place at the Vienna State Opera on October 10, 1919. The epic and complex work tells the story of an enchanted Empress who lacks a shadow, the symbol of both fertility and compassion. The Empress learns that unless she acquires a shadow in three days’ time, she will be forced to leave her husband, the Emperor, who will be turned into stone. In search of a shadow, the Empress meets the wife of the poor dyer, Barak. The Empress and the Dyer’s Wife reach an agreement for the latter’s shadow. In the end, the Empress’s refusal to take the shadow of the Dyer’s Wife, even at the potential cost of the Emperor’s death, leads to everyone’s salvation. At the beginning of Act III (“Schweigt doch: Ich hab es nicht getan!”), Barak and his Wife are in an underground vault, separated by a wall. The Dyer’s Wife is haunted by the voices of unborn
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