“There is more of the past in the present than one suspects”, wrote Hugo von Hofmannsthal, the librettist of this opera, in 1911. This could be taken as a motto for the first ever release of one of the gems in the history of the Salzburg Festival – the 1965 staging of Ariadne auf Naxos under the baton of the legendary Karl Böhm. The film has been extensively restored using state of the art technology and shows the opera stars Sena Jurinac, Reri Grist, Hildegard Hillebrecht and Jess Thomas in renewed splendour. The masterpiece is directed for stage by Günther Rennert.

Supported by the Wiener Philharmoniker, it was Karl Böhm who “with all the authority of his love of and experience in Strauss, in addition to the sovereign gifts of the born operatic conductor, kept the performance moving. […] Has anyone ever heard this music played more perfectly, more unsentimentally? Have the two worlds of comic and heroic opera ever blended more smoothly? Has any other conductor achieved so organic a combination of the score’s chamber-music-like structures and its hymn-like apotheosis?” (Salzburger Nachrichten)

Live recording from the Salzburger Festspiele 1965

Primadonna/Ariadne Hildegard Hillebrecht
Der Tenor/Bacchus Jess Thomas
Der Komponist Sena Jurinac
Zerbinetta Reri Grist

Wiener Philharmoniker

Conductor Karl Böhm
Stage Director Günter Rennert