Der Rosenkavalier

On a sunlit morning in the 18th century, in a Vienna that never really was, the beautiful and passionate Marschallin Marie Thérèse is in bed with her young lover, Octavian. The birds are singing, and after a night of bliss, even an unexpected visit from the oafish Baron Ochs can’t spoil the mood. The cash-strapped Ochs hopes to make a lucrative marriage of convenience, and he needs an elegant nobleman to act as rose-bearer—or “Rosenkavalier”—to Sophie, his unsuspecting young bride. Octavian seems like the perfect candidate. But time, and the human heart, can make fools of us all. Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s gorgeous, sensuous fairytale of Vienna gradually develops into a bittersweet and profoundly moving story of youth, ageing and the price we pay for love. In Der Rosenkavalier (1911), Strauss is at the absolute peak of his game, setting Hofmannsthal’s playful comedy of manners to a score of unsurpassed lushness, and whirling the action along on a glowing stream of anachronistic but intoxicating waltz melodies. By having his young hero Octavian played by a woman, Strauss adds a sexually charged tingle to a drama that includes moments of truly dazzling spectacle (the glittering “Presentation of the Rose”) as well as music of exquisite poignancy and insight for the Marschallin—one of the most loveable, and believable, heroines in all opera.