by This is entirely based on my opinion, and on how much I enjoyed the opera. Operas are roughly ordered within a given tier. This list does not include Der Kampf mit dem Drachen or Des Esels Schatten.
Update 20 Nov 24: I thought it might be interesting, roughly one year and many listens later, to revisit this list and re-evaluate my previous opinions.
Die Frau ohne Schatten: Fair. I thought then (and still think now) that Elektra is the better opera, but I put Frau first because it is far less known and I thought I would start with a hot take (even though saying that Frau ohne Schatten is a good opera probably doesn’t qualify as such).
Elektra: Fair
Daphne: Fair
Helena: Somewhat overrated — definitely would move it a few spots down. It’s an engaging listening experience but hasn’t stuck with me nearly as much as any of the other highly rated ones. I still think it’s a good opera, but I’m not sure it’s a great opera.
Die schweigsame Frau: Fair. I’m not quite sure I’d put it as an S but it’s certainly one of Strauss’ better operas.
Rosenkavalier: Significantly overrated. I never had a strong penchant for this opera, it’s always felt sappy and overly melodic to me, and the satire isn’t as live for me as in his other great comic operas (schweigsame Frau, Arabella, and Capriccio). I understand why other people like this opera, but it’s just not for me and I only put it in A out of a misguided sense of obligation.
Ariadne: Slightly underrated. Gets better every time I hear it; while the opening prologue certainly isn’t too bad, I still think it goes on a little long, especially the more recitative-heavy section at the beginning.
Arabella: Fair
Danaë: Somewhat underrated. Expect a post on this one in the not-too-distant future. There are a couple spots where it drags but it has some really interesting moments.
Salomé: I think I was slightly too hard on this opera. I don’t think it’s as good the operas at the top of the list, but it’s not as bad as I made it out to be.
Capriccio: This opera is the reason I’m revisiting this list: it’s an easy S. In my first few times listening to the opera, I didn’t fully appreciate the incredible comic subtlety nor the emotional depth of the music. It took several more listens, but I do now understand why some people rate this as Strauss’ best opera (or among the top couple).
For the remainder of the operas, I think my initial evaluation was fair.
S
Die Frau ohne Schatten (1919): Strauss is, one might say, not known for writing music of great practicality, convenience, or ease. This opera is not very well known for that reason; it is virtually impossible for most opera houses to stage or to perform this work thanks to the dramatic and musical demands made on performers. That said, it’s worth the effort — Die Frau ohne Schatten is a titanic work, twice as long as Elektra and with twice the harmonic and motivic density than Elektra (for which the latter opera is well-acclaimed).
Elektra (1909): Might as well get this one out of the way: Elektra is a great opera. Strauss’ extravagant demands in orchestration (mind you, not as extravagant as in Die Frau ohne Schatten) are put to excellent use in creating a richly-textured character study of the titular princess.
Daphne (1938): To me, Daphne is the stand-out among Strauss’ late operas. Like in Elektra, he gets right to the point dramatically while leaving room for some great orchestral interludes. The Heldentenor writing in particular shines in this opera.
Die Ägyptische Helena (1928 — I only know the original version): Another Greek mythology banger from Strauss. Plus, as Wikipedia is keen to point out, it’s the only major opera in the repertory with a role for an omniscient sea shell. There are, though, probably only a handful of trumpet players in the entire world who can execute the first part and this opera is also limited in performance by its demanding nature.
A
Die schweigsame Frau (1935): In my opinion, Strauss’ funniest opera. Strauss uses the tropes and history of the genre to great parodic effect. The coloratura part of Aminta is far from easy but extremely impressive when executed, even compared to Strauss’ usual mastery of writing for voices (and for female voices in particular).
Der Rosenkavalier (1911): Rosenkavalier is good, but I don’t think it’s great. Of course, there are wonderful moments of music, but that’s true of all of his operas. This is perhaps the most melody-forward of his operas, and that’s not necessarily what drives me to listen to Strauss.
Ariadne auf Naxos (1916 — second version): If you can sit through the opening recitative, it’s worth it. Strauss writes two of the finest soprano arias in the repertoire in close succession and presents an interesting juxtaposition of styles that works surprisingly well (though the parody is not as funny as in Die Schweigsame Frau, in my opinion). I imagine my issues with this opera would have been solved if I had ranked to the first version or just done it without the prologue, but the second version is the one people tend to know.
Arabella (1933): Certainly this is nowhere close to S tier, but it’s a pretty solid opera. I would call it underrated because it doesn’t have anything in particular that makes it stand out, but it’s far from the worst entry on this list. Act 3 in particular is chock-full of very exciting music.
Die Liebe der Danaë (completed 1940, premiered posthumously in 1952): This opera scrapes into A tier on account of its orchestration. I think this opera is a bit too long for what it is, but it’s hard to argue with the incredible color of the music he writes for this opera, especially the gold rain music.
B
Salome (1905): I think the shock of this opera has dulled too much in the past century to fully appreciate it. Certainly it has many redeeming qualities (enough to redeem its misogyny? You can decide for yourself), but it goes on a little too long for my taste. Even the trombonistic pleasure of tearing into Jochanaan’s Curse doesn’t quite manage to bring this opera higher than a B+ for me.
Capriccio (1942): Certainly not a bad opera, but doesn’t stand up to Strauss’ other late works, for which I have a strong affinity. I think Strauss’ only opera that succeeds as a straight-up comedy is Die Schweigsame Frau, and I don’t think this opera achieves the emotional depth of his other late works (especially Metamorphosen and the Four Last Songs) to be considered with his best dramas.
Feuersnot (1901): This opera does Strauss very well but doesn’t do Wagner nearly as well (despite the very cute references throughout the back half of the opera). The dramatic content is not as compelling or as well-developed as his later operas, but the music still has much to offer: I would consider this to be one of the finer orchestrations of his tone poem period (though it’s certainly no Also sprach Zarathustra).
C
Intermezzo (1927): Some moments of great music but ultimately not that interesting — better to just listen to the symphonic arrangement and get the highlights than to listen to the entire opera. The whole letter plot is kind of funny but really the opera just goes on much too long for what it is.
Friedenstag (1938): I am tempted to go as far as saying this works better as a political statement than as an opera. The depth of characterization that characterizes Strauss’ best works is not present to the same degree in this opera, and I would say the same of orchestral color. Much of the latter problem is due to the paucity of orchestral passages in the opera, which could probably have been inserted to the benefit of the opera (I suspect this has something to do with the fact that this was originally intended as a double-bill with Daphne, which thankfully does not suffer the same problems). At the very least, no one can accuse this opera of overstaying its welcome.
D
Guntram (1894): While Wagner did write some absolute masterpieces, he also wrote so many mediocre operas that it baffles me why a generation of composers in his wake did nothing but imitate him. Thankfully, Strauss broke out of his Wagner knock-off phase before long and got to composing good operas.
Edit: I didn’t think beforehand to include Strauss’ arrangement of Idomeneo in this list, but it appears that the score isn’t on IMSLP and no complete recording is available, so I wouldn’t be able to give it a full evaluation even so. Oh well.
Daniel Chevallier 
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