Melodrama for narrator and piano by Richard Strauss with Jürgen Weber (narrator) and Olesia Stepanova (piano)
A story by the English poet Alfred Tennyson (1809 to 1892)
After a mishap, Enoch Arden can no longer work independently as a fisherman. He leaves his family to join the ship on which he had served in his younger years as a deckhand to support them. He leaves his wife Annie and children in the care of his best friend Philipp, who is still quietly in love with Annie, but who had once preferred the headstrong Enoch to him. The ship gets into serious distress on its journey to China. Together with two companions, Enoch manages to save himself on an island. The companions die and he remains trapped on the island for ten years until he is rescued by chance. Aged and severely scarred by his hardships, he returns to his hometown, where he has long been declared dead. Annie now lives with Philipp. The returnee does not reveal his identity. He languishes alone, heartbroken, and only reveals his fate on the deathbed to Miriam, the innkeeper's wife, who had taken care of him and given him shelter.
