Richard Strauss was born in Munich, Germany, on June 11, 1864, and died in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, on September 8, 1949. The first performance of the opera, Der Rosenkavalier, took place at the Königliches Opernhaus in Dresden, Germany, on January 26, 1911. The orchestral Suite derived from Der Rosenkavalier is scored for piccolo, three flutes, three oboes, English horn, E-flat clarinet, three clarinets, bass clarinet, three bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, snare drum, tambourine, glockenspiel, ratchet, two harps, celesta, and strings. Approximate performance time is twenty-two minutes.
After the success of Salome (1905) and Elektra (1909), two lyric dramas featuring shocking stories and music, Richard Strauss informed his librettist, poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal, that he wished to compose “a Mozart opera.” Hofmannsthal first suggested a story based on the life of Casanova, but the two finally agreed on the plot that was to become the basis of Der Rosenkavalier. Hofmannsthal described the story in the following manner: “(A) pompous, fat, and elderly suitor favored by the father has his nose put out of joint by a dashing lover—could anything be plainer?”
The correspondence between Strauss and Hofmannsthal during the creation of Der Rosenkavalier documents an intense and mutually rewarding collaboration. “Do not, I implore you, let my criticism discourage you, “Strauss wrote to Hofmannsthal in July of 1909, “My criticism is intended to spur you on, not to discourage you. I want to draw the best out of you...” There is no doubt Strauss and Hofmannsthal did “draw the best” from each other, resulting in one of the enduring masterpieces of 20th-century opera.
Der Rosenkavalier takes place in Vienna during the reign of the Empress Maria Theresa. The Feldmarschallin, a woman of 32, is carrying on an affair with the 17-year-old Count Octavian Rofrano. The Marschallin’s boorish cousin, Baron Ochs von Lerchenau, pays a surprise visit to seek her aid in his impending marriage to Sophie, the young daughter of the bourgeois Herr von Faninal. The Baron enlists Octavian to deliver a silver rose to Sophie. When Octavian arrives, he and Sophie instantly fall in love. Octavian vows to defy Ochs, and (mildly) wounds the Baron in a duel. In the final act, Ochs is tricked into abandoning his designs on Sophie. The Marschallin realizes her time with Octavian has reached its conclusion. She graciously yields her lover to Sophie.
The orchestral Suite performed at these concerts, approved but not fashioned by Strauss, features music from the Act One Introduction, the Second Act’s Presentation of the Rose, the arrival of Ochs, and waltz (an anachronism, as the reign of Maria Theresa preceded the genesis of the beloved ballroom dance), the glorious final trio and closing duet, as well as a boisterous waltz reprise that serves to conclude the Suite.
program notes by Ken Meltzer