LACO Summerfest S3:E3 “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme” Richard Strauss

What started as a grand experiment now exists as Richard Strauss’ 17th-century inspired orchestral suite, “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme.” Originally a four-hour theatrical adaptation by Hugo von Hofmannsthal of Moliere’s satirical comedié-ballet, the renamed “Der Bürger als Edelmann” was an ambitious collaboration of opera and theater that was only performed once in 1911 before splitting into two different works. One of the works became Strauss’ celebrated opera “Ariadne auf Naxos;” the second became a play: a revised, shortened version of “Der Bürger als Edelmann,” with incidental music from Strauss. The play flopped when it premiered in 1918, but Strauss’ incidental music lives on as “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme.” LACO performed this piece in January 2022 at the Ambassador Auditorium with Music Director Jaime Martín.