Richard Strauss Josephs Legende

Josephs Legende Opus 63 is an opera without words or balletdrama composed by Richard Strauss 18641949 with libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal 18741929 The story attempts to reconstruct a particular biblical passage that was given prominence in the Old Testament Genesis 3750 centered around the first Josephs parts of the socalled Egyptian episode and the incident in Potiphars house Genesis 37 36 and 39 123 Although in the biblical story there are no great details about such episode they can be easily imagined as Strauss and Hofmannsthal did in fact please refer to Genesis 39 1119 for more specifics