EVENINGS OF CLASSICAL MUSIC - BAHRAIN - |
PROGRAMME FOR 3 JULY 2002 |
DER ROSENKAVALIER Opera by RICHARD STRAUSS (1864-1949) |
Opera in three acts Libretto: Hugo von Hofmannsthal Premiere: 26 January 1911, Dresden |
CAST Feldmarschallin, the Princess Werdenberg Baron Ochs, of Lerchenau Count Octavian Rofrano, a young gentleman Faninal, a rich merchant Sophie, Faninal's daugter Marianne, the duenna Valzacchi, an intriguer Annina, Valzacchi's companion An Italian Singer |
- Felicity Lott - Kurt Moll - Anne Sofie von Otter - Gottfried Hornik - Barbara Bonney - Olivera Miljakovic - Heinz Zednik - Anna Gonda - Keith Ikaia-Purdy |
Chorus & Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera conducted by CARLOS KLEIBER |
SYNOPSIS Vienna in the 1740's, in the early years of the reign of Maria Theresa ACT 1 Count Octavian, also known as "Quinquin", loves the Marschallin, with all the passion of his 17 years. She is the wife of Field-Marshal Prince Werdenberg. Early in the morning in the Marschallin's bedroom, after a stormy night of love with which his whole being is still filled, Octavian tries to express in words the enigma of "I" and "You" becoming one. The brightening daylight, the appearance of a little black page-boy with the Marschallin's morning cup of chocolate, and her teasing rebuke concerning a sword compromisingly left in full view do, admittedly, cast tiny shadows across the young Count's rapture. Sharing the chocolate restores their intimacy, but traces of mutual irritation linger: the Marschallin does not like to be reminded of her absent husband, and Octavian is upset by the recognition that his beloved has had experiences that have nothing to do with him. The unspoken fear that the Field-Marshal might return unexpectedly seems or first to be confirmed when clamour breaks out in the anteroom, but as it persists the Marschallin overhears enough to realise that the nosy arrival is a kinsman of hers, Baron Ochs of Lerchenau, whose earlier letters to her she has ignored being too wrapped up in Octavian. Octavian has to escape somehow, and quickly improvises a disguise as "Mariandel", a lady's maid. The efforts of the Marschallin's servants to keep the Baron out are fruitless, and he pushes past them into her bedroom, just in time to prevent "Mariandel"'s exit. "She" instantly tickles the fancy of the boorish provincial nobleman, so that it takes him some time to get to the real point of his visit. It turns out that he is on the point of marrying a young Fräulein Faninal, the daughter of a provision merchant who has amassed a huge fortune out of army contracts, and has recently been elevated to the nobility. The Baron makes no secret of the fact that he's primary purpose in making this far from suitable match is to restore his otherwise hopelessly ruined financial position. Even his early call on the Marschallin is made in pursuit of the same end, as he needs her help in finding a "bridegroom's envoy", a young cavalier who will precede him when he pays his first official call on the bride and, in accordance with "the custom of all noble houses", will present a silver rose to her. Furthermore, Ochs wants the Marschallin's lawyer to represent him in drawing up the marriage contract. His impending marriage does not stop the Baron from making the bluntest sort of overtures to the "lady's maid". Octavian and the Marschallin amuse themselves by leading him on. Ochs excuses his premarital appetite for "Mariandel" in a lengthy exposition of his philosophy of pleasure and his indefatigable feats in putting it into practice, and he proudly mentions an illegitimate son who now serves as his valet. On an impulse, the Marschallin suddenly suggests that her "young cousin" Octavian is the very man to act as the Baron's cavalier, and sends "Mariandel" to fetch a miniature portrait of him. Ochs is amazed by the resemblance between the "maid" and the portrait, though he fails to see through the disguise and instead makes innuendoes about "Mariandel"'s parentage, which the Marschallin pointedly confirms. By now the anteroom is full of callers. With a signal that they should be allowed in, the Marschallin at last gives Octavian the chance to escape the Baron's attentions. While petitioners, tradespeople and a pair of professional intriguers compete for the Marschallin's attention, she has her hair dressed. A tenor, accompanied by a flautist, performs an aria about the hopelessness of efforts to resist the power of Cupid. The Baron, who wants to get a judicially quite unallowable clause inserted in the marriage contract with the purpose of feathering his nest even more downily, is angered by the lawyer's pettifogging legalism and, failing to get his own way, interrupts the aria with a furious outburst. The Marschallin, displeased with her hairdresser's efforts, sends everyone away - the intriguers , Valzacchi and Annina, just have time to offer the Baron their services. Ochs, having spent the entire interlude looking about him in vain for the "maid", decides to present "her" counterpart (as he supposes), and has his bastard Leupold bring in the silver rose in its case. At long last, the Marschallin succeeds in ushering the Baron out too. The marriage of an inexperienced young girl to an unscrupulous fortune-hunter and womaniser sets the Marschallin reflecting on her own fate - she too was "fresh from a convent" when she entered an arranged marriage. She muses over the eternal recurrence of "yesterday" in "today", and on the persistence of the younger self inside the inexorably ageing body. Octavian returns, wearing his own clothes again. His impetuous and incessant demands for expressions of love from her are irksome in her present mood of reflective melancholy. He is bewildered and upset by her failure to shake off her thoughts of impermanence and transience, even though he is there with her, and it is even worse when she predicts that "sooner or later" he will leave her, the older experienced woman, for a younger and prettier one. Hurt and uncomprehending, he at last yields to her gentle insistence and leaves. Too late, she realises that she did not mean to let him go without a kiss - but he has already mounted his horde and galloped off. The Marschallin tells her black page to carry the case containing the silver rose to Count Octavian Rofrano. . ACT 2 Faninal's townhouse is buzzing with excitement on the day of his daughter's betrothal. Etiquette banishes the bride's father from the house during the presentation of the silver rose, so Faninal takes his leave of his daughter, in whom joy and apprehension contend for mastery. Her duenna is at the window to watch as Count Rofrano and his attendants drive up in splendour. During the ceremonial presentation Octavian and Sophie experience an unexpected moment of reciprocal enchantment and a happiness which - it seems to both of them - raises the transience of their meeting into the permanence of an "everlasting" memory. It takes a little time for the bride and the "bridegroom's envoy" to come down to earth and their present situation where the rules of etiquette still holds sway. Some polite conversation is expected of them, but more than once Sophie's chatter moves dangerously near the limits of propriety. The appearance of her bridegroom, when her father ushers him in, is a nasty shock for Sophie. The Baron's mélange of ponderous condescension and wandering hands sends Faninal, whose satisfaction at securing a titled son-in-law has robbed him of all common sense, into ecstasies of delight, but Sophie's revulsion is instinctive. Ochs fancies that his hymning of the pleasures of the flesh and his invocation of his "Lerchenauish luck' will soon overcome any resistance. He even hints broadly to Octavian that he might enjoy flirting with Sophie, while he himself, Faninal and the lawyer withdraw into another room to sign the marriage contract. Octavian and Sophie lose no time in discovering that they are of one mind - her marriage to Ochs must be prevented. Meanwhile, the Baron's scarecrow band of servants have been drinking themselves silly, and uproar in the next room draws away the chaperone, who has become de trop, giving the young couple the first chance for a tender exchange - until Annina and Valzacchi snatch them rudely from their mutual absorption. The intriguers' shouts bring the Baron back, who jumps to the (to him) obvious conclusion. Ochs's skin is thick enough for him to take the matter lightly, and neither Sophie's rejection of him nor Octavian's heated rebukes will make him change his mind. In great excitement, the Count draws his sword and the Baron succeeds in getting himself scratched at the first pass. Thereupon he hollers blue murder and brings the whole household running to witness the outrage. The spectre of scandal brings Faninal's world crashing about his ears. Threatening one party and protesting his devotion to the other, he attempts to salvage what he can of "his" beautiful marriage. Octavian is shown the door, but has time to assure Sophie that he will stand by her. His wound bandaged by a doctor, and surrounded by his servants, the Baron takes a glass of wine to assist his recovery. His good humour is fully restored when Annina brings him a letter from "Mariandel", inviting him to a rendezvous the following evening. Ochs has no suspicion that Octavian has already come to an arrangement with the pair of intriguers (who have been affronted by the Baron's niggardliness) and is laying a trap for him. . ACT 3 In a private room in a Viennese inn, Octavian, once again dressed as "Mariandel", runs through the final rehearsal of a charade to be played by Valzacchi and Annina and full supporting cast, the purpose of which is to unmask Baron Ochs to Faninal as a bigamist and hence no longer suitable as son-in-law. Ochs arrives, as arranged, with "Mariandel" on his arm. The expensive "extras" offered by the landlord and waiters throw him into a turmoil of parsimony, shortage of cash and impatience to get his hands on the "lady's maid". "Mariandel" displays all the gauche coquetry of a naïve, innocent country girl. Her resemblance to Octavian makes the Baron wince, and the (premature) opening of a trap-door gives him a start too. The sound of music off-stage launches Octavian into a tipsy, sentimental excursus on the passage of time, a nice parody of the Marschallin's musings two days before, which upset him so much. Something goes wrong with the timing of Octavian's plans. When the sweating Baron removes his wig, as a preliminary to the serious business of the evening, the chambre séparée turns into a chamber of horrors. Earlier than she should, Annina makes an entrance, in disguise, claiming to be a wronged wife. A number of children also erupt into the room, and shrilly hail Ochs as "Papa!". Ochs starts shouting for the police, and eventually a superintendent of the Morality Squad appears. This is the last thing Ochs wants, as he now undergoes close questioning as to what his intentions were with regard to "Mariandel" (who is careful to draw herself to the superintendent's notice). Still without his wig, and surrounded by his "children", Ochs has just declared that the girl is his affianced bride, Fräulein Faninal, when Faninal himself enters and issues an indignant denial. Sophie, waiting outside, is sent for and learns to her relief that her father has changed his mind about Ochs. The fear of further scandal is too much for Faninal, who is about to faint and must be brought into another room. Ochs, having suddenly recovered his wig, proposes to take "Mariandel" home. Octavian lets the superintendent into the secret of his disguise, and removes it. Then something wholly unexpected happens, which is in no way part of Octavian's scheme - the Marschallin, summoned by the valet Leupold to help his father out of his awkward situation, enters the room. Astonished, Octavian, back in his proper clothes, tries to explain everything to the Marschallin. Ochs, who still doesn't understand, tries to keep "Mariandel" hidden from her. Sophie conveys a message from her father, telling the Baron that the marriage is definitely off. All agree that the whole business has been "a farce and nothing more". Sophie sense the influence the Marschallin has over Octavian, and supposes sadly that her dream of true love has vanished with this "Viennese masquerade". Octavian finally opens the Baron's eyes to the real identity of "Mariandel". Ochs changes his tactics and tells the Marschallin he is ready to hold his tongue about her "lady's maid" if she will speak to Faninal on his behalf, but the Marschallin firmly decrees that the whole affair is at an end. Only the sight of the bills proffered him by the landlord, waiter, musicians, other servants and coachmen persuades Ochs to give up the game, and he makes a hurried exit. Sophie, the Marschallin and Octavian are left alone - Sophie in despair, the Marschallin knowing where Octavian's heart belongs, and he confused. Octavian finally declares his love to Sophie openly. Though distressed to see her prophecy fulfilled so soon, the Marschallin conquers her own feelings and helps the two young people out of their embarrassment. The Marschallin bears her loss with a magnanimity that enables her love for Octavian to extend even to his love for another woman. All anxiety and misunderstanding dissolve for Octavian and Sophie and they are overwhelmed in the happiness of the love they are now free to acknowledge. They do not even notice as the Marschallin leaves them to seek out Faninal. Faninal and the Marschallin leave the inn together, abandoning the lovers to the absorbed happiness of the very young, and the certainty that their love is the only true and lasting thing on earth. |
Recorded live at the Vienna State Opera, March 1994 Sung in German, with English sub-titles Producer: Otto Schenk |
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