With “Die Frau ohne Schatten” Richard Strauss (1864-1949) created his only opera anchored in the fairy tale world. Written in 1919 under the impressions of the First World War, the opera symbolizes humanity - and at the same time raises numerous mysteries with its profound symbolism.
While hunting, the emperor captures a fairy’s daughter and marries her. This marriage bond is bound by the spell that the fairy daughter must become human: to gain the ability to cast a shadow - to become a mother. Otherwise, the empress would have to go to the spirit realm and the emperor would turn to stone. But even shortly before the deadline, the empress still does not cast a shadow. With the help of her manipulative nurse, the empress tries to bargain away the shadow of a married, but deliberately childless dyer. Although the dyer initially agrees, shortly before the end of the deadline it becomes apparent that not only the empress and her husband, but also the dyer couple must face virtuous trials. The dyer, the dyer’s wife and the emperor are able to preserve their virtue. When the empress refuses the offered shadow of the dyer in the last test, because she does not want to destroy another couple’s happiness, she achieves true humanity and the spell is broken.