Is ‘The Bassarids’ an Operatic Masterpiece, or ‘Strauss Turned Sour’?

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Without these scenes, the king can seem a thinner character: the uncompromising enemy of a god, rather than someone also at war with elements of human nature. But the team had second thoughts about these scenes. Auden and Kallman thought that Henze overscored this part of the opera. And Henze cut the Intermezzo, including “The Judgment of Calliope,” in later editions.

These passages, as well as a spoken prologue used at the opera’s North American premiere, will be included in Salzburg this year. “What is being performed here is very much inspired by the original score, the original theatrical intentions of the libretto,” Mr. Nagano said. “The purpose is really to demonstrate what a natural composer Henze was, writing for the theater.”

This attempt is particularly noteworthy given that the opera has never been ideally served on recordings. A CD set of the Salzburg premiere is still available, though that production was sung in a German translation — an unfortunate choice, given the crispness of Auden and Kallman’s English, as well as Henze’s talent in setting it. A subsequent recording of the opera does use the English text, but does not include the cut scenes and is out of print.

It’s a problem common to Henze’s formidable dramatic catalog. Earlier this year, at Dutch National Opera’s Opera Forward Festival in Amsterdam, I was dazzled by his oratorio “The Raft of the Medusa” in its grandly orchestrated 1990 revision; the only in-print recording of the work is a comparatively skeletal 1960s version on Deutsche Grammophon. Henze’s prior collaboration with Auden and Kallman, “Elegy for Young Lovers,” was also recorded on Deutsche Grammophon, but not in a complete edition (and, again, in German).

“I have all these recordings at home, and it’s quite hard to listen to them,” Mr. Hinterhäuser said. “The interpretation now is on another level. The orchestra plays on another level; the singers are very familiar with this kind of language, this kind of drama.” He agreed that “there should be some initiative” to preserve more of Henze’s operatic catalog.

So how about a DVD or CD of this season’s “Bassarids”?

“We are working on it,” he said. “It’s quite complicated to find a producer for that. It might be a DVD; it might be a recording. But there will be something. I think we can be a little bit optimistic.”

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