Richard Strauss’ light-hearted comedy “Der Rosenkavalier” combines music, literature and customs. In doing so, it paints an extremely realistic picture of Vienna in the 1840s - even if the tradition of the Rosenkavalier, who delivers a silver rose to the bride on behalf of the groom for the courtship, is an invention.
For the libretto, Strauss (1864-1949) had once again teamed up with his friend and literary figure Hugo von Hoffmannsthal. “Der Rosenkavalie” was one of the composer’s most popular works, and in addition to the opera, the non-musical play version was also very popular with audiences.
Strauss and von Hoffmannsthal had a very precise idea of their characters: be it the beautiful Field Marshal Princess Werdenberg, who was unhappily married at a very young age, now in her early 30s mourning her youth and distracting herself with amorous adventures; or Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau, a nobleman, albeit somewhat coarse and at the same time an outspoken womanizer, who would like to marry the blood-young Sophie primarily for her dowry, but is himself available for any hanky-panky.
Not only in terms of content, but also musically, “Der Rosenkavalier” differs greatly from the two previously composed, avant-garde operas “Salome” and “Elektra”; Viennese waltzes and folk melodies, Baroque allusions with Romantic sensibility are mixed in.