Richard Strauss, composer of 15 operas, once called Ariadne auf Naxos his favorite. Until last week New York had never seen it performed professionally. For 30 years in Europe, Ariadne has been a connoisseur's opera, esteemed by musicians and performers, but not by the public, which preferred Strauss's erotic Salome and his opulent Rosenkavalier. Last week in Manhattan, after the 28th curtain call for the New York City Opera Company's first performance of Ariadne, a friend of 82-year-old Composer Strauss cabled him in
Switzerland: "Ariadne has become a popular opera at last."
It is...