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Ariadne auf Naxos
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Ariadne auf Naxos

work by Gerstenberg
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Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg, a German poet and critic, wrote the text for a cantata titled Ariadne auf Naxos in 1767. This work is distinct from Richard Strauss's later opera of the same name. Gerstenberg's cantata text was set to music by Johann Adolph Scheibe and Johann Christian Bach, and later adapted into a duodrama by Jiří Antonín Benda.12

The subject of Ariadne auf Naxos draws from the Greek myth of Ariadne, daughter of King Minos of Crete. She aided the hero Theseus in defeating the Minotaur and escaping the Labyrinth. Legends differ on Ariadne's fate, with some stating Theseus abandoned her, leading to her death, while others recount her rescue and marriage to the god Dionysus.2

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  1. Ariadne
  2. Heinrich Wilhelm von Gerstenberg

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