#Rosenkavalier

[scrion7]

Okay, was anyone going to tell me that Der Rosenkavalier by Strauss was a threesome lesbian opera, or was I just supposed to learn that in a random music history course myself?

In other news, I’ve got a new Frosen Steel au idea.

[musenundmuseen]

Wien, Donnerstag, 21. März 2024

Staatsoper

Eine Vorstellung des Rosenkavalier besucht. In den Teilen, die den zweiten Weltkrieg überlebt haben, ist das Haus so opulent wie die Musik von Richard Strauss. Leider ist das nur 20 Prozent vom ursprünglichen Bau. Die Haupttreppe, die sogenannte Feststiege, gehört dazu.

[bobdobalina]

[above: Celine Byrne, Paula Murrihy and Claudia Boyle for Irish National Opera, 2023]

So... I've started a tradition of bringing a group of friends to performances at the Metropolitan Opera and creating illustrated orientation guides to help everyone get prepared for each show. The next one is Richard Strauss & Hugo von Hofmannstal's Der Rosenkavalier, and I'm proud of how the document turned out... even if it does run to 23 pages 😅.

Some excerpts:

Illustration by Al Hirschfeld of the 1982 Metropolitan Opera cast: (L-R) the Italian tenor, Sophie, the Marschallin, Octavian, Herr Faninal, Baron Ochs

On the final trio:

Musically, the thing that really blew my mind about this number is the way it builds to an unbearably beautiful climax (3:33), then a heartbreaking chord change (3:43), then it feels like gravity turns upside down (3:50), then somehow goes sideways (3:59), then FINALLY resolves (4:10). I’ll never be able to adequately explain how this makes me feel. It blows past all expectations, again and again, and just when you start to catch your breath, the bottom drops out from under you again, revealing a whole new level that you never dreamed was possible.

The most common way to stage this scene is to spread the three singers across the stage, each processing their turbulent emotions alone to the audience. But I also like the staging from Zürich in 2004, which keeps them tightly together and even has the characters touch at key points. It also helps that all three performers look like they’re about to fucking explode.

Feel free to read and share, and let me know what you think!

[pourpasserlamelancholie]

[opera-ghosts]

On the 85th birthday of Richard Strauss (1864-1949) a festive performance of his “Rosenkavalier” was played in the Bavarian State Opera. In this picture we see the composer who attended the dress rehearsal together with the soprano Gerda Sommerschuh, who could be heard as Sophie that evening. Richard Strauss died shortly thereafter. At his will, she sang Sophie again in the final trio of the same opera at his funeral.

[comicalfellow]

Der Rosenkavalier - Richard Strauss - De Nationale Opera

[ichbinmeineeigenepuppe]

Wie bitte ?

[derring-do]

Paula Murrihy & Ying Fang in Der Rosenkavalier (Santa Fe Opera 2024)

[princesssarisa]

I was just thinking of the fact that in past centuries, puberty tended to come later than it does today, due to differences in nutrition.

I've read many times that until the 20th century, girls typically got their first period around age 16.

Just now it dawned on me: did this difference also affect how late a boy's voice usually changed?

I was just thinking of certain teenage boy characters in opera, who are "pants roles" or "trouser roles" (sung by women) despite presumably being old enough to have changed voices.

For example, the role of Sesto in Handel's Giulio Cesare, who was historically 19 when the events of the opera take place.

Or Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, who presumably has an unchanged voice in-universe since the other characters repeatedly disguise him as a girl, yet who is old enough to be sent into the army and to be suspected of sleeping with the Countess.

Or Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, who is explicitly 17, yet masquerades as a girl even more successfully than Cherubino.

As characters who either were written in the 18th century or live in the 18th century, might these boys all have unchanged voices in-universe, at later ages than they would if they lived today?

[crunchity-munchity]

I rewatched It's Such A Beautiful Day for the first time in a while

[baliisarda]

They're pretty neat I think

[operaqueen]

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - Der Rosenkavalier

[likeniobe]

the opera comment that's like if this is acting I'm glad sutherland never bothered...that's my dream for lise. opera directors stop making her limp and stagger "naturalistically" around the stage and look shorter for her scene partners....please try to understand. she is as petrarch calls laura an "alta colonna" or as mary sidney translates a "stately pillar"....every movement should be how a marble statue would move and every kneeling folding bending embracing etc needs to be absolutely self-willed and an act of grace. this kind of presence is why her strauss roles are so good but we can bring some of this iciness into verdi too. are you taking notes

[warningsine]

Speaking of lesbian stuff in operas, let's go back to our roots for a moment:

[sachermorte]

YOU HAVE A TATTOO???? im sorry this shouldn't be so surprising coz lots of people have tattoos but you seem like such a fancy lil rich boy?? Elegant™

I contain gap moe

I don't have a tattoo-- I have two with plans for more once I'm more financially comfortable

This is my first-- a sword in a bouquet of gladiolus flowers. The gladiolus stands for integrity and strength of character and is also called the sword lily in a few languages. There's a balance between staying your hand for the sake of social harmony and moral character, and resolutely protecting yourself from those who might do you harm. The steel in the flower, the flower in the steel

This is my second. A vague shape of a coffin. Life and death holding hands, or passing a baton. Renewal, metamorphosis, second chances. Even if you feel all but dead, as long as you have a beating heart you can start again. There's no position you can't come back from. It will be different but it will be okay. Roses will bloom from your grave, and you will come out.

If you're in Vienna I can highly recommend my tattoo artist. Love him to death.

[doyouknowthisopera]