Dusseldorf, Moses. Ariadne al Naxos / Ariadne auf Naxos in Hebräischen von Moses Lazrus

(DRAMA)

Hannover

1789

Manuscript in Hebrew. Aschkenazic script. Two titles, Hebrew and German. Occasional German words in footnotes

The author informs us that this Greek mythological drama is found in three languages—English, Italian and French - as well as in a German translation whereby it is called "Duodrama." The reference is to the duodrama by the Danish playwright Johann Christian Brandes (1735-1799). Based on Brandes’ text, the German composer Georg Anton Benda (1722-1795) subsequently wrote his first melodrama, Ariadne auf Naxos (1774). (The operatic version of Ariadne auf Naxos is by Richard Strauss.) Our rendition is its first, and apparently only Hebrew translation. It is in fact one of the earliest of plays to appear in Hebrew. It appears in none of the bibliographies of Hebrew drama and it is likely it never saw the light of print. The Play: In order to appease the invading King Minos of Crete, every seven years the residents of Athens would sacrifice seven youth, who were to be deposited in the labyrinthine lair of the Minotaur, a mythical bull-like creature. None ever succeeded in finding their way out again. However, Minos’ own daughter, Ariadne fell in love with Theseus, one of the condemned, and helped to escape, whereupon the lovers fled to the isle of Naxos - whereupon the story develops in earnest.