The origins of Richard Strauss' one-act opera Friedenstag (1936) may be traced to 1934, when Strauss and Stefan Zweig were discussing projects to pursue after the completion of their previous collaboration, Die schweigsame Frau (1929 - 32). In outlining a new project, Zweig, who was then living in exile, suggested a work that combined tragedy, heroism, and humanity, and which also advocated international peace. Zweig put forward the idea of an opera about the end of the Thirty Years War, tentatively calling the work 24 Oktober 1648.

As a Jew during the Nazi era, however, Zweig would have been an impossible choice as a collaborator on any work that Strauss would have wanted to have been performed. Zweig suggested to Strauss a number of possible collaborators that would have been "acceptable"—that is, Aryan—and Strauss eventually settled on Josef Gregor. At its 1938 premiere in Munich, Friedenstag was performed with Beethoven's ballet The Creatures of Prometheus (1800 - 01), and later, with Strauss' own Daphne (1936 - 37) at the premiere of that opera. Neither of these pairings, however, ever became part of Friedenstag's performance tradition; moreover, it took years for the work's revival after these early stagings.

Gregor used Calderón's La redensción de Breda as the basis of Friedenstag's libretto. Despite his skill, Gregor's libretto is still a naive and essentially undramatic text. As a nod to the earlier plans for the work, Strauss and Gregor maintained the October 1648 setting and managed to use the historical elements for dramatic distancing. Zweig had intended Friedenstag to be an anti-Nazi cautionary tale, and nothing that Strauss stated about the opera refutes that idea. Still, the Nazi party ironically found the work to espouse its own beliefs. This apparently caused embarrassment to Strauss, though he did nothing to counter that sentiment. Friedenstag is generally regarded one of Strauss' weaker operas, often suffering in comparison with the composer's earlier masterpieces as well as later efforts like Daphne (1938). The limited action in Friedenstag makes it seem more like a cantata than an opera; it is clearly less adventurous and less inspired than Strauss' very best works for the stage.

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