Rosenkavalier Suite - Strauss (1864-1949)

Richard Strauss' opera Der Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose) was first performed in Dresden in 1911. The libretto, written especially for Strauss by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, bears the description "A Comedy for Music". The scene is set in Vienna in the mid-eighteenth century, the early years of the reign of the Empress Maria Theresa. There is certainly comedy in both plot and music but also an expressiveness representing the best of Strauss' late-flowering romantic art. The main protagonists are the Princess von Werdenberg, Baron von Ochs, the nouveau riche Herr von Faninal, his daughter Sophie and the youth, Octavian, who retains a boy's voice, is required by the plot to dress as a girl and is thus played by a female singer.

As the opera opens, Princess von Werdenberg is found encouraging the devotion of Octavian. An ardent love scene is interrupted by the entrance of the impecunious and disreputable Baron von Ochs. Octavian, thinking von Ochs is the Princess' husband and with no time to escape, hurriedly dresses as the Princess' maid. The Baron wishes to consult the Princess about a proposed match with Sophie but his story is interrupted by his amorous approaches to the supposed maid. The Act closes with the Princess asking Octavian to carry a silver rose to Sophie as a declaration of the Baron's love. Sophie is completely entranced by Octavian, the Rosenkavalier, when he calls on her. In this particularly opulent scene, Octavian is resplendent in white and silver and attended by servants dressed in white and green and adorned with plumes and swords. Baron von Ochs stands no chance!

Here indeed are the seeds of a plot which, when sown so cleverly by Strauss and his librettist, blossom into comedy and pathos. With von Ochs discredited, the final scene leaves the Princess, Sophie and Octavian on the stage. The two women both have claims on Octavian but the Princess gives way to the younger Sophie, wipes away her tears leaving the two young lovers to fall into each other's arms with the words "Ist ein traum" ("It is a dream").

There are several suites of music taken from Der Rosenkavalier: today's version, a subtle blending of the main themes from the opera and a generous proportion of waltzing, is by conductor Rudolf Kempe, a colleague and friend of Richard Strauss. The opening of the Rosenkavalier Suite is indeed the orchestral introduction to the opera which describes, even before the curtain rises, the night of love of the Princess and Octavian. The ascending sweep of the horns represents the young man's youthful ardour which is answered by a richly harmonised descending phrase revealing the full passion of the mature Princess. Later, Octavian's presentation of the silver rose is highlighted by a strangely dissonant "silver" chord-sequence played by three flutes, three solo violins, celeste and harp. The unconcealed eroticism of the music is enhanced by the use of Viennese waltz tunes; an unashamed anachronism as the opera takes place a hundred years before the days of the Waltz-King, Johann Strauss. The first waltz arrives dreamily and slowly as Baron von Ochs attempts to seduce Sophie: the same music is later transformed using virtuosic orchestration and changing pulse to telling effect. The Rosenkavalier Suite also contains the final duet of Sophie and Octavian; music of utter simplicity and charm as Sophie sings, "It is a dream, it cannot be true that we two are together". Once again the haunting notes of the silver rose are heard before the music carries us away in an exhilarating waltz, pausing only to reiterate Octavian's passionate opening theme before ending in utter triumph.

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