page_title: Die ägyptische Helena
section_title: Instrumentation
hierarchical_section_title: Die ägyptische Helena / Instrumentation
caption_attribution_description: English: photo of composer and conducter.
context_page_description: Die ägyptische Helena, Op. 75, is an opera in two acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It premiered at the Dresden Semperoper on 6 June 1928. Strauss had written the title role with Maria Jeritza in mind but, creating quite a sensation at the time, the Dresden opera management refused to pay Jeritza's large fee and cast Elisabeth Rethberg instead as Helen of Troy. Jeritza eventually created the part in Vienna and New York City.
  As inspiration for the story, Hofmannsthal used sources from Euripides. Strauss made changes to the opera in 1933, five years after the premiere, working with the director Lothar Wallenstein and the conductor Clemens Krauss.
context_section_description: Although not dense like the orchestration for Elektra and Salome, it is still impressive: 
  Woodwind: 4 flutes (3rd and 4th doubling on piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, bass clarinet, 3 bassoons (3rd doubling on contrabassoon)
  Brass: 6 horns, 6 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba
  Percussion: timpani, bass drum, tamtam, snare drum, cymbals,
  Other instruments: glockenspiel, celesta, 2 harps, organ, strings (16.14.12.10.8)
  Stage band: 6 oboes, 6 clarinets, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 4 trombones, timpani, 4 triangles, 2 tambourines, wind machine
caption: Strauss and Busch in Dresden, 1928
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