About the work
One-act opera by Richard Strauss to a libretto by Joseph Gregor after a scenario by Stefan Zweig, who as a Jewish author could no longer be credited publicly in 1938. It premiered on 24 July 1938 at the National Theatre Munich under Clemens Krauss, to whom it is dedicated along with his wife, the soprano Viorica Ursuleac.
Plot
On the last day of the Thirty Years' War, 24 October 1648, a Catholic town withstands a siege by Protestant troops. As the commandant prepares to blow up the citadel rather than surrender it, a horn signal announces the Peace of Westphalia: the warring commanders shake hands, and the townspeople celebrate peace.
Cultural significance
In 1939 the work was performed in Vienna before leading Nazi officials as part of celebrations for Strauss's 75th birthday and was long read as a regime-friendly statement; today it is regarded more as an ambivalent but musically forceful plea for peace written on the eve of the Second World War.