Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos (Ariadne on Naxos), an opera about a Composer who combines two contrasting acts, was created with Hugo von Hofmannsthal out of gratitude for Max Reinhardt's assistance in preparations for Der Rosenkavalier. It was thought that Reinhardt might use the short opera as an intermezzo in Molière's play Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. The opera mixes the lofty diction of a Baroque opera seria with the low farce of the commedia dell'arte clowns, who were popular in Paris during Molière's day. Based on the same subject that Monteverdi set in 1607, the plot focused on Ariadne's abandonment by Theseus on the island of Naxos, where comedians attempted to lift her spirits until she is lovingly rescued by Bacchus. Even though its complex symbolism didn't quite please him, when Hofmannsthal offered an interpretation, the composer found inspiration and created some of his loveliest songs. After filling the work with music, dancing, and singing, that covered nearly every hue of expression; he commented, "my score—as a score—is really a masterpiece." The opera marks the definitive stage of his conversion to a Mozartean style.

Ariadne auf Naxos is best known in the revised version that Strauss and Hofmannsthal completed in 1916. It differs from the earlier version in its separation from the performance of Molière's Le bourgeois gentilhomme, in response to criticism of the first performance, and, more importantly, the inclusion of the newly composed and extensive prologue.

Vestiges of the Molière text remain in the prologue, which revolves around the character of the composer. This trouser role (usually sung by a mezzo-soprano) provides the frame for the ensuing one-act opera and represents Strauss' first self-reference about the nature of opera itself. (He would take up this idea later and more explicitly in his last opera, Capriccio.) The prologue makes Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos an opera about the performance of a opera with the same name. In the prologue Strauss introduces themes that will occur more fully in the context of the following opera. In addition to presenting motives associated with Zerbinetta and her commedia del'arte players, Strauss also suggested the theme of the god Bacchus, who enters only in the final scene of the work.

The structure revolves around the plight of the composer in the prologue and the interplay of two stories in the following opera, making this version of the work more intricate and, in a sense, more satisfying. It is no longer the counterpart to a more or less spoken comedy, but has become a work about the nature of composition. Strauss is also able to explore the duality of comedy and tragedy, as embodied by Zerbinetta and Ariadne, in ways that had not occurred in the earlier version. When, at the end of the work, Ariadne has taken herself less seriously because of her interchange with Zerbinetta, it is made to be the result of the interaction of elements within the opera, not some motivation imposed by the librettist and dutifully set by the composer.

The work was given its premiere on October 4, 1916, in Vienna. It was received well and has remained in the repertoire in this latter version. In addition to the prologue, which is a tour de force in itself, the aria "Grossmächtige Prinzessin," in which Zerbinetta addresses Ariadne, is noteworthy for its musical content and dramatic function. The scene between Ariadne and Bacchus is also effective in conveying the apotheosis of the lovers. Near the end of the latter scene, Strauss colors the music with shimmering chords similar to those he would later use at the end of Die Frau ohne Schatten, when an emotional transformation also occurs.

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