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Richard Strauss originally conceived Ariadne auf Naxos as a light work that would only last around half an hour. He wrote it for Hugo von Hofmannsthal, an Austrian playwright, so that it could be presented as a divertissement following performances of von Hofmannsthal's adaptation of a Molière play, Le Bourgeois gentilhomme. Strauss also composed incidental music for the von Hofmannsthal-written play, but it soon became apparent that the light operatic work could be developed into something more substantial, the prologue and one-act opera that is performed to this day. This staging at Teatro Costanzi is the updated version, with the prologue explaining events so that Strauss' intended opera within an opera construction of the work becomes apparent from the outset.

Ariadne auf Naxos premiered on 25 October 1912 at the Stuttgart Staatsoper. Audience reactions were mixed since the original idea – combining a play and subsequent opera in a single performance – had grown somewhat. In fact, the adaptation of Le Bourgeois gentilhomme lasted around six hours, while the opera that followed would run for about 90 minutes by the time it had made it to the stage. It was von Hofmannsthal who suggested the work should be significantly reshaped, arguing that needing both actors and opera performers for a single production was prohibitively expensive. In the end, the play element was reduced to a prologue while the operatic part, which still made use of a libretto written by von Hofmannsthal, was expanded. Strauss was initially reluctant but worked on the changes in 1916, most notably shifting the setting from Paris to Vienna. The revised version of Ariadne auf Naxos went on to be premiered on 4 October 1916 at the Vienna State Opera.

In the opera, a troupe of comedic players, who perform in the commedia dell'arte style, take on roles in a much more serious opera about Greek mythological characters, notably Ariadne, the daughter of the King Minos. Consequently, Ariadne auf Naxos blends both light comedy with touches of high opera seria. In the prologue, competing theatrical troupes bargain with one another over the performance of a new opera. In the end, comic performers present the legend of Ariadne from the point in her life when she has been abandoned on Naxos by Prince Theseus of Athens, who has famously slain the monstrous Minotaur before running away with her. Eventually, the god Bacchus arrives but will his presence alter Ariadne's attitude to love and fate so damaged by Theseus' abandonment of her?

This Teatro dell’Opera di Roma staging of Ariadne auf Naxos draws out the serious and light themes of Strauss’ opera with its unique mix of modern and classical elements.