[Nov. 13, 2010] Sunday Classics preview solution: A sneak peek at perhaps Strauss's best-loved operas, "Rosenkavalier" and "Ariadne"

The opening of the 1988 Met telecast performance of Ariadne auf Naxos, with Franz Ferdinand Nentwig as the Music Master and Nico Castel as the Major-Domo (and, at the end of the clip, James Courtney as the Lackey and Charles Anthony as the Officer) -- staged by Bodo Igesz and conducted by James Levine

by Ken

The grouping of our four excerpts into two pairs, A-B and C-D, wasn't accidental, of course. We have here music from what I think we can safely call the most-loved operas of Richard Strauss (1864-1949), Der Rosenkavalier and Ariadne auf Naxos, the first two operas he composed to original librettos by the distinguished young playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929). (Their previous collaboration, Elektra, was an operatic adaptation of Hofmannsthal's non-operatic adaptation of the Sophocles play.)

We're hearing the openings of both operas, and in the case of Ariadne, we're hearing both openings. The alternately sober and zany "opera seria" Ariadne auf Naxos was originally conceived to be performed as an intermezzo in an abridged version of Molière's Le bourgeois gentilhomme -- a version prepared, naturally, by Hofmannsthal -- but was subsequently retooled for self-sufficiency, newly equipped with a Prologue to show us how the wacky mélange that follows comes to happen.

Then for balance, and 'cause I love it, as a bonus I've thrown in a unique nugget from Rosenkavalier.

R. STRAUSS: Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59 (1910)

There are a number of ways to approach the literally orgasmic orchestral introduction to Der Rosenkavalier, but for this go-through I couldn't resist the combination of molten energy and (after the act) sweetness Georg Solti summons from Strauss's beloved Vienna Philharmonic. And I couldn't resist throwing in the Italian Singer's treacherous aria from the Marschallin's levée in Act I. It's a showpiece, of course, but a showpiece with a characteristically Straussian ironic twist: The composer clearly wanted the tenor to be able to show off his stuff, but to preserve the effect of a home salon performance, he made it so fiercely difficult that even Pavarotti in his prime is left struggling to survive its upper reaches.

[A] Act I: Orchestral introduction

[B] Act I; the Italian Singer's aria, "Di rigori armati"

Luciano Pavarotti (t), the Italian Singer (in [B]); Vienna Philarmonic, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded November 1968

R. STRAUSS: Ariadne auf Naxos, Op. 60 (1911, 1916)

Perhaps it had to do with the extremely difficult process by which the final opera was created, but Ariadne auf Naxos held a special place in Strauss's heart. While it's probably Die Frau ohne Schatten among Strauss's operas that's most closely associated with Karl Böhm (and for obvious reason), I think it's clear from his performances of it all over the operatic world that the Strauss opera closest to his heart as well as the composer's was Ariadne. (One cherishable document is the complete recording of the performance he conducted at the Vienna State Opera to celebrate Strauss's 80th birthday on June 11, 1944, one of the last performances in the original Staatsoper building that was largely destroyed by Allied bombers on March 12, 1945.)

Although the sound of these excerpts is humble broadcast mono, it would be hard to imagine them endowed with more affection, wit, or radiant warmth. I don't mean to disparage James Levine's surfacey, utilitarian conducting in the video clip . . . oh wait, maybe I do.

[C] Prologue: Orchestral introduction

[D] Overture to the opera-within-the-opera

Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Karl Böhm, cond. Live performance, Mar. 28, 1970

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