American Symphony Orchestra to Perform FEUERSNOT at Carnegie Hall

Whatever else you think of Richard Strauss, you can't accuse him of picking easy subjects. While Die Frau Ohne Schatten remains one of the most elusive of opera plots, Elektra among the most bloodthirsty and Salome among the most disturbing, it is the rarely-heard one-act Feuersnot that proved a step too far to Strauss's own audiences. But then what did he expect? The plot revolves around lust and sex - and the fact that it has always been regarded as possibly semi-autobiographical no doubt didn't help his cause. Yet the opera is fascinating enough that the world premiere was conducted by Gustav Mahler.

And what of audiences today? At a time when operas such as Anna Nicole and Powder Her Face have gone far further than Strauss ever did in the raunchiness stakes, are we desensitized to sex on stage, or simply less prudish? On the other hand, what does the opera - the tale of a sorcerer who deprives a town of its ability to light fire (seen as Strauss taking allegorical revenge on the critics who dismissed him as a musical rebel) until they let him take the virginity of the mayor's daughter - say about Strauss's sexual politics? We'll find out what American audiences today think of it on December 15.

This concert follows a highly successful start to the ASO's season. The acclaimed New York Avant-Garde led Zachary Woolfe in the New York Times to coin the phrase "Botsteinburg" to describe Maestro Botstein's exciting programming. The recent Elliott Carter retrospective saw the same newspaper's Steve Smith write, "When it comes to ambitious, fearless orchestral programming, there is Leon Botstein...and then there is everyone else...the orchestra played with a bravado any orchestra might envy - and ought to."

About Feuersnot, Botstein has said, "It's a spoof on other operas - on Wagner, on Tristan, as well as on romantic love. Strauss was always upset that it was never in the repertory. He always wanted it to have a second life. The time has come to look at it again - it's a delight." The cast includes Jacquelyn Wagner as Diemut, AlFRed Walker as the magician, Kunrad, the Collegiate Chorale Singers and the Manhattan Girls Chorus.

$25 / $35 / $50 and subscriptions are available at americansymphony.org and by phone at 212-868-9276. Tickets are also available at CarnegieHall.org, at the Carnegie box office, or by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800. The Conductor's Notes Q&A at 1pm in Stern Auditorium is free with concert tickets.

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