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May 7, 2024 · Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier” reminds us that even a comedic gem contains many serious truths about Love, contrasting lecherous desire with passionate romanc...
- 9 min
- 6
- The Santa Fe Opera
Ultimately, Der Rosenkavalier contains some of the most sublime music known to man and the highlights, such as the “Presentation of the Silver Rose” scene and the concluding trio and duet, when the Marschallin renounces any claim on Rofrano and yields him to the ecstasy of love for Sophie,
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Der Rosenkavalier. Alt ernative Title. Komödie für Musik in drei Akten. Name Translations. 玫瑰騎士; Il cavaliere della rosa; Rosenkavaleren; Ruusuritari; ばらの騎士; Name Aliases. Кавалер розы (опера); Кавалер роз (опера); Le Chevalier à la rose (Richard Strauss); Le chevalier à la rose; Le Chevalier ...
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Jun 4, 2017 · Octavian, the ardent 17-year-old chevalier, is one of the most interesting characters in opera. Known as a “trouser” or “breeches” role, it is played en travesti — the male character is ...
- Overview
- Background and context
- Cast and main vocal parts
- Setting and story summary
- Act I
- Act II
- Act III
Der Rosenkavalier, (German: The Knight of the Rose) comic opera in three acts by German composer Richard Strauss (German libretto by Austrian dramatist Hugo von Hofmannsthal) that premiered at the Dresden Royal Opera House on January 26, 1911.
Hofmannsthal had written the play upon which Strauss based Elektra, but Der Rosenkavalier was their first close collaboration. Hofmannsthal took several characters and elements of the plot from French composer Claude Terrasse’s operetta L’Ingénu libertin (1907) and French dramatist Molière’s Monsieur de Pourceaugnac (1669). The composer set to work on what he called a Komödie für Musik (“comedy for music”) before the libretto was complete. Notably, Strauss worked many waltzes into the score. The waltz, an early 19th-century creation, was unknown in 18th-century Vienna, but it was a staple in light opera at the beginning of the 20th century.
Within a year of its Dresden premiere, Der Rosenkavalier had reached the stages of Vienna, Munich, Nürnberg, Cologne, Hamburg, Milan (in Italian), and Prague (in Czech), among many other European cities. In 1913, productions would be staged both in London and at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. Not all observers were pleased. For example, at La Scala in Milan, purists booed the waltzes, which they viewed as suitable only for dance music. Nonetheless, Der Rosenkavalier was hugely popular and has remained the most often performed of Strauss’s operas.
•The Marschallin, the field marshall’s wife (soprano)
•Octavian, Count Rofrano (mezzo-soprano)
•Sophie von Faninal (soprano)
•Baron Ochs (bass)
•Herr von Faninal, Sophie’s father (baritone)
•Italian Singer (tenor)
Der Rosenkavalier is set in Vienna in the mid-1700s
In the Marschallin’s bedroom she and her young lover, Octavian, are awakening from a rapturous night. Octavian hides quickly as a servant comes in with breakfast. Soon after he returns to bed, there is a clamour in the outer room. The Marschallin recognizes the voice as that of her overbearing and crude cousin, Baron Ochs. She tells Octavian to hide behind the screen and find some clothes. Ochs storms in, demanding his cousin’s attention. Although he is a nobleman, he has little money, so he intends to marry the young rich bourgeois Sophie. According to tradition, he must find a well-born messenger to present a perfumed silver rose to the woman as a marriage proposal.
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The Marschallin mischievously recommends Count Rofrano (Octavian) for the job, and Ochs agrees. Octavian has reappeared, dressed in women’s clothes as the housemaid “Mariandel.” Ochs flirts with her. Meanwhile, a number of visitors arrive in succession, demanding the Marschallin’s attention. As an Italian tenor sings an aria, Ochs attempts to bully a notary into writing out a marriage contract that will favour him greatly. “Mariandel” slips away.
In her father’s reception hall, Sophie von Faninal awaits the arrival of the Knight of the Rose. Handsome and elegantly dressed, Octavian arrives bearing the silver rose in advance of the bridegroom’s arrival. The two young people promptly fall for each other. Ochs comes in, accompanied by his loutish entourage, and he treats Sophie patronizingly. ...
In a private room at a seedy inn, the scene is set for a plan meant to humble the obnoxious Ochs. “Mariandel” has agreed to meet him, and they arrive together. His plans of seduction repeatedly run awry with continual interruptions by other conspirators; the ensuing pandemonium brings in the police. Ochs’s mood is not improved by the arrival of Sop...
- Betsy Schwarm
