Yet the pluck and willingness to 'get on with it' of the troupe of comedians appeals to us in a very instinctive way -- artists have never been able to create in a bubble, free from outside influences. Would the Sistine Chapel have turned out as sublime had the Pope not been involved? Artists have always responded to oppressive regimes not by acquiescing to the powers but subverting them. Zerbinetta takes the new demands in stride and, along with her colleagues, creates a performance to be remembered.

That Strauss and Hofmannsthal are obsessed with the the conflict of opposites in which there is seemingly no resolution is no revelation in this piece. Elektra and Chrysothemis are depravity and purity defined; in CAPRICCIO it is the very power of words versus music that is at odds; while ROSENKAVALIER pits an unwinnable battle of advancing age against youth. ARIADNE AUF NAXOS places conservative, 'ancient' idealistic moral values in opposition to a hedonsitic, and perhaps more realistic, philosophy of love and life. While both have their rewards, neither are fully attainable. In the final analysis, our lives occupy an uncomfortable grey area that cannot be easily classified - a place that is hardly insulated from heartache and suffering, but that nevertheless enjoys moments of security and deep contentment.

Though the directive that both forms of entertainment be played simultaneously is what ignites the conflict at the end of the Prologue, that dire order is never actually carried out. Tragedy and Comedy each manage to remain sovreign nations. Somehow, in the messiness of life (and its theatrical stand-in of operas and plays), each aspect of love, mourning, pathos, irony, silliness and gravity, plays out in its own timeframe while the wild juxtapositions only add to the richness of each experience.

Though Strauss' characters do not always make journeys of their own, we inevitably come away having learned something from the conflict that eternally binds them. His opposites are not often attracted to each other, but nearly a hundred years since he wrote them, they continue to attract us to the struggles they explore.

###