The spiritual bond of the whole
Der Rosenkavalier - a work of farewell
In 1910 Hugo von Hofmannsthal noted in his diary, “Similarity: the figure of the Marschallin in Rosenkavalier with that of Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger. Renounces and sees the young ones marry. Forms the spiritual bond of the whole thing, is the principal character and yet not a heroine.” The analogy with Wagner’s Meistersinger von Nürnberg goes even further if we bear in mind the parallel between the young couples (Octavian/ Sophie and Walther/Evchen), the fathers of the brides (Faninal and Pogner) and between the suitors (Ochs and Beckmesser), who are both ridiculous and unsuccessful. With the appearance of the Marschallin in the third act, which has something of a deus-ex-machina intervention, Hofmannsthal underlines her humanely outstanding significance for the fragile network of relationships between the characters in this opera. Indirectly she is also given the “last word” in that Der Rosenkavalier does not close with the scene of the young lovers but with the little moor’s search for Sophie’s handkerchief, his action accompanied by feather-light march rhythms. The attention is thus brought back to his mistress, the “main character and yet not a heroine”.
What would Der Rosenkavalier be without her? It is not difficult to find the answer: a comedy along the lines of the classic Molière intrigues, an exterior action with character masks in typical constellations. Indeed Hofmannsthal’s first sketch dating from 1909 was completely under the spell of Molière. He served as a model for the exposition of the original first act (the father wants to marry off his daughter against her will to a suitor she does not love) and the drama continued along similar lines with various plots and false leads (the father and his preferred son-in-law are outwitted, the daughter gets the man of her heart). Initially the names of the characters were also a clear indication of the orientation towards Molière: Faninal was originally called Geronte based on the related character in Molière’s Le Médecin malgré lui; Ochs first appeared as Pourceaugnac. This title role in the play of the same name (Monsieur de Pourceaugnac, in German translation known as Herr von Schweinbach or The Squire of Schweinickel) has not only the significant name in common with the figure on which Baron Ochs von Lerchenau was based but also the provincial origins and vulgar snobbishness. For a long time Hofmannsthal considered naming the opera after him, the object of the conspiracy; Pourceaugnac, then Ochs von Lerchenau were discussed as working titles, because, as Hofmannsthal pointed out, “The thing is held together by Pourceaugnac, the buffo role, Ochs von Lerchenau, so let’s stick to it”. And Strauss also agreed, “Title? I’m in favour of Ochs!”
Jacques Offenbach, Les Contes d'Hoffmann
However, not only the title and the French names were to change in the course of the cooperation between librettist and composer. The outline dating from February 1909 (“The house of Geronte. Geronte expects a son-in-law from good landed aristocracy”) became part of the second act, whose sketched content (“Bedroom of the marquess. Night of love. Morning. Gratitude. Arrival of Pourceaugnac.”) was brought forward into first place. Neither the plot in the style of Molière nor Ochs, who holds everything together, were abandoned or subordinated and yet the decision to make the love of the marquess (Marschallin) for the younger man Octavian the beginning and origin of the story resulted in a different piece, quite distant from the first with its conventional and comic ideas.
As implied already, the relation between Der Rosenkavalier and Die Meistersinger in concept and psychology also extends to the closed and polished artificial world in which the characters in both operas move. “There the setting is Nuremberg in 1500,” explains Hofmannsthal, “here it is Vienna at the time of Maria Theresa – a real and therefore credible entire city world with hundreds of living references in itself: from Faninal to Ochs, from the police commissioner and the innkeeper to the grand lady, from the palace through the world of lackeys to the farmyard and so and so forth. Actually it is the support of the whole thing and through it the characters come alive.”
Despite the precise date, “in the first years of Maria Theresa’s reign” we are here talking about a transfigured and in this sense timeless Vienna, and anyone who does not already notice that from the poetry ought to become suspicious not least because of the Viennese waltzes that permeate the entire opera. It was Hofmannsthal who had the idea of this musicological anachronism. On 24 April 1909 he had written to Strauss, “For the last act I hope you can come up with an old fashioned, rather sweet, somewhat impudent Viennese waltz.” The journal Die Musik published in its carnival edition in 1912 a Rosenkavalier-Alphabet, and under the letter W it noted: “‘Zarathustra is not such a fine thing’, thought Strauss, ‘therefore I’ll become a waltz king’”.
In its retrospection, in its evocation of an idealised past Der Rosenkavalier reveals itself as a work of farewell on the eve of the first world war. The “comedy for music” by Hofmannsthal and Strauss pays homage to the Habsburg myth which has been incomparably described by the Italian literary historian Claudio Magris: “Melancholy sensuality and graceful renunciation are reflected in the waltzes of Der Rosenkavalier and in an ironic and nostalgic tone this comedy deals once again with the figures and characters of the Austro-Hungarian world: the seductive and faithless lady, the gallant young boy, the vain and lecherous baron, the shy young girl, the honest and wealthy citizen, the charming chambermaid and the helpful innkeeper. Der Rosenkavalier is one of the last testimonies of Austrian humanity and art.”
Wolfgang Stähr
Jacques Offenbach, Les Contes d'Hoffmann
Richard Strauss
DER ROSENKAVALIER
New production
Conductor Semyon Bychkov · Peter Schneider • Stage director Robert Carsen • Stage and costume design Peter Pabst • Lighting design Robert Carsen · Peter van Praet • Chorus master Rupert Huber • Dramaturge Ian Burton
Die Feldmarschallin Fürstin Werdenberg Adrianne Pieczonka
• Der Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau Franz Hawlata •
Octavian Angelika Kirchschlager • Herr von Faninal
Franz Grundheber • Sophie Miah Persson
Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin Ingrid Kaiserfeld •
Valzacchi Jeffrey Francis • Annina Elena
Batoukova • Ein Polizeikommissär Florian Boesch
• Der Haushofmeister der Marschallin John Dickie
• Haushofmeister bei Faninal Michael Roider •
Ein Notar Peter Loehle • Ein Wirt Markus
Petsch • Ein Sänger Piotr Beczala
• Eine Modistin Aleksandra Zamoiska • Ein
Tierhändler Eberhard Lorenz
Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus
Vienna Philharmonic
Premiere 6 August, 7 p.m.
Further performances 9 August, 6 p.m.
11 August, 7 p.m. · 14, 17, 20, 23, 26 and 28 August, 6 p.m.
Grosses Festspielhaus
Telephone +43 (0) 662 8045-500
Telefax +43 (0) 662 8045-555
E-mail: info@salzburgfestival.at
Production photos © Karl Forster