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Josephslegende (The Legend of Joseph), Op. 63, is a ballet in one act for the Ballets Russes based on the story of Potiphar's Wife, with a libretto by Hofmannsthal and Kessler and music by Richard Strauss. Composed in 1912-14, it premiered at the Paris Opera on 14 May 1914.
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Composition
Hugo von Hofmannsthal first proposed the Josephslegende 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 wasn't 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!" 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, organ, celeste, glockenspiel, xylophone, large and small cymbals, four pairs of castanets, and a double-bass clarinet.
Performance history
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 premier 23 June) and Sir Thomas Beecham, who had loaned the money for the commission to Diaghilev. With the looming war, Strauss never received his fee of 6,000 francs.
Symphonic fragment
In 1947 Strauss prepared a symphonic fragment from Josephslegende, for reduced orchestra. This was premiered in March 1949 in Cincinnati under Fritz Reiner.