Ariane is inspired by a literary and theatrical work of French writer Georges Neveux Le Voyage de Thésée (1943). Martinů began to adapt the play into a libretto 13 May 1958. By 21 May, the structure of the opera was clear to Martinů and he wrote to Neveux requesting permission to use Thésée and describing his plans. The autograph score was completed 15 June the same year. To craft his one-act opera, Martinů used the central part of Neveux’s play, focusing on the core incidents between Theseus, Ariadne, and the Minotaur. Though he cut significant portions of text, he retains Neveux’s original language throughout, only making slight alterations. The majority of the libretto comes from Acts 2 and 3, with only Ariadne’s farewell taken from the beginning of Act 4 – he set the text as an extended coloratura aria. All these changes serve to make Ariadne a more central figure than Theseus, the protagonist of Neveux’s play. His original librettos give the title as Thésée, but this is then crossed out and replaced with Ariane. All versions of the autograph score only have Ariane as the title.
Ariane was first presented 2 March 1961 at the Kleines Haus of the Städtische Bühnen Gelsenkirchen, along with Kurt Weill’s Mahagonny (Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny) and Der Analphabet by Ivo Lhotka-Kalinski. The production was conducted by Ljubomir Romansky and directed by Rudolf Schenkl, with set design by Peter Krukenberg and costumes by Charlotte Vocke. The cast was led by Annemarie Dölitzsch (Ariadne) and Klaus Kirchner (Theseus).
Robert Simon, The Bohuslav Martinů Complete Edition: Ariane, H 370, series I/1/12, Prague: Bärenreiter, 2021.