Die Frau ohne Schatten, The Woman without a Shadow: Character Map
Die Frau ohne Schatten, The Woman without a Shadow: Roles
| The Empress | Keikobad’s daughter | soprano |
| The Nurse | mezzo-soprano | |
| The Dyer’s Wife | soprano |
| The Emperor | tenor | |
| Barak | the Dyer | tenor |
| The One-eyed Man | Barak’s brother | bass |
| The One-Armed Man | Barak’s brother | bass |
| The Hunchback | Barak’s brother | tenor |
| The Messenger of Keikobad | baritone |
- Native title: Die Frau ohne Schatten
- Composers: Richard Strauss
- Librettist: Hugo von Hofmannsthal
- Based on: Conversations of German Emigrants by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Language: German
- Premiere: October 10, 1919, Vienna State Opera
- Running time: 3 hours 20 minutes (Act 1: 70 minutes, Act 2: 70 minutes, Act 3: 60 minutes)
Die Frau ohne Schatten, The Woman without a Shadow: Short Synopsis
Events before the main story
The Empress, daughter of Keikobad, king of the spirit world, has no shadow of her own. The lack of a shadow is symbolic of her inability to have children. Keikobad decided that if she did not obtain a shadow within a year, she would return to the spirit world the Emperor would turn to stone.
Die Frau ohne Schatten
A messenger from the spirit world comes to the nanny. He informs her that the Empress must obtain a shadow within three days. The nanny suggests that she gets a shadow from another woman.
Barak and his wife live in poverty. An empress and a nanny appear to Barak’s wife. The nanny shows her an extravagant vision and makes her promise to sell her shadow. Barak’s wife tells her husband that she sold the shadow. Barak gets angry and tries to stab her. Barak’s wife is impressed by her husband. The ground cracks Barak and his wife fall.
Barak and his wife are in separate rooms. They worry about each other. The Empress meets her father, Keikobad, and sees her husband, the Emperor, turned to stone. A fountain appears before her. The guardian tells her to drink water from the fountain to obtain the shadow. She does not drink water. By not drinking the water, she gets her shadow the Emperor returns from stone to human. Barak and his wife also return to their original life.