About the work
Opera in two acts by Richard Strauss to a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, composed 1923–1927 as their fifth joint opera. It premiered on 6 June 1928 at the Dresden Opera House under Fritz Busch; the title role, written for Maria Jeritza, went to Elisabeth Rethberg instead after a fee dispute.
Plot
Drawing on the ancient counter-legend that only a phantom of Helen, not Helen herself, went to Troy with Paris, the victorious Menelaus brings his genuinely faithful wife home from Egypt. A magic potion is meant to erase his memory of her supposed infidelity, but only once Menelaus accepts Helen in her full contradictions do the two find each other.
Cultural significance
The Dresden premiere had a mixed reception, prompting Strauss and Hofmannsthal to revise the work for Vienna in 1933. It is considered one of the pair's musically most demanding yet less frequently staged operas, and one of their last joint projects before Hofmannsthal's death in 1929.