Otto Schenk’s production of R. Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier is probably by now listed in Frommer’s and TimeOut as one of Munich’s historical attractions: it was first shown in 1972 and made famous in Carlos Kleiber’s DVD with Gwyneth Jones, Brigitte Fassbaender and Lucia Popp. I can understand the Bavarian Opera’s unwillingness to part with it – it is an expensive staging that is still very popular. The sets to the second act were received by applause, something I had never seen in Germany before. In any case, having seen the DVD does not mean that you’ll know beforehand what you are going to see. The new cast has brought it’s own contribution under a Spielleitung that responds to contemporary tastes rather than those of 1972.
Anja Harteros, for example, is a far more sensuous and less pensive Marschallin then Gwyneth Jones in the video. Her lighter approach is coherent with what Strauss himself expected in this role. She was, of course, born to sing it: she has the looks, the attitude and the voice. Her rich soprano finds no difficulties in the often low-lying declamatory passages, expands effortlessly in its higher reaches (exemplary contribution to the closing trio) and takes easily to mezza voce. She took a while to warm and only sounded her full-toned self by the beginning of her monologue. Although her diction is very, very clear and, being herself German, is usually spontaneous in her delivery of the text, I had the impression that she – very understandably – is still finding her way in this role. In many a key moment, she would opt for a studied, ready-made inflection borrowed from her famous predecessors in the role rather than trusting her own instincts. In these moments, her Marschallin invariably sounded uninvolved. But don’t mistake my words: if I make these observations, it is precisely because Harteros is on her way to becoming the leading Marschallin of her generation. If she is not that yet, the good news are that she is going to be even better in the future!
On the other hand, Sophie Koch is by now an experienced Octavian who knows exactly where her strengths are. Her creamy mezzo has the necessary brightness to pierce through, her passaggio is very smooth, she avoids pushing and can spin some forceful high notes and beautiful pianissimo. She is only tested when the tessitura remains too long in the soprano area. Even then, she acquits herself quite commendably. I like her stage performance as well; she knows how to play boyishness without making a charicature of it and how to seem aristocratic without seeming mature. She handles the physical comedy without overindulging herself too.
Lucy Crowe too is a convincing Sophie – she has the physique and finds the right balance between darlingness and purpose. Her soprano is a bit more substantial than usual in this part, but she can sound edgy and her cleanly attacked and floating high pianissimi sometimes develop a light, but noticeable beat. The other Briton in the cast, Peter Rose has the required low notes and clear articulation for the Baron Ochs. He is an excellent comedy actor too and can find a patrician note in an otherwise rustic character. I saw him in this role in 2003 at the Met, when he was more restrained with his ad libs and funny touches. At any rate, he has enough charisma to pull this out and certainly is one of the best exponents of this role in our days.
Conductor Constantin Trinks drew rich, warm sounds from the Bavarian State Orchestra without forgetting structural clarity; the prelude to act III was particularly clean – but had problems to find the right balance between pit and stage, often drowning his singers. In the more intimate passages, he gave the impression of being reined in and without ideas, while complex ensembles, especially those involving Ochs, were often messy.
I HEAR VOICES 
I saw this production in 1979 in Muenchen, the year it was taped.and Jones was steely, but affecting (she was better suited to Brunnhilde in Bayreuth a week or so later).
The Bayrerische Staatsoper isn’t the only company that cherishes an older production of Der Rosenkavalier. The Metropolitan Opera’s Nathaniel Merrill/Robert O’Hearn production premiered in 1969 is still being used. It was a lovely production at the time, though hardly as elegant as the one Jurgen Rose designed for Muenchen.
How I wish someone had filmed Rose’s Deutsche Oper Cosi fan Tutte from the 1970s. Time seemed suspended during the garden scene.
When I think of such classy productions, it’s hard not to be impatient with the puerile productions that are staged so frequently nowadays.
Peter Gelb will need guts to retire Nathaniel Merrill’s Met production. That is a wonderful production.
Nice to “hear your voice” again, RML.
P.S. It’s good to see back in the operatic saddle again.
Sorry, meant to write “it’s good to see RML back in the operatic saddle again”.
The seamlessness, effortlessness, security, and sheer beauty of Harteros’ voice is absolutely remarkable and never heard by me to better effect (and I’ve been lucky enough to hear her something close to 20 times or more) than here. I was fortunate enough to hear her on nights when she was thrilling from first note to last – and this was all the more remarkable in that she missed the intervening performance with some sort of illness. Her is also, as RML suggests, an already complete and enormously engaging dramatic portrait and a much more organic one than that of many other exponents, some of them with extensive experience in the role. The occasional “studied” moments that RML identifies are all the more noticeable in the context of the general naturalness of the portrayal but even with these in mind, its hard to identify a dramatically superior Marschallin active today (I can think of one) but she is likely to get better still with experience and time.
Crowe was an unusually rich voiced and tolerable Sophie. Rose very effective here and in much better voice than in my previous time hearing him in this role.
BTW – who is your other Marschallin?
@Loki I think the Muenchen production is MUCH more elegant than the Merrill at the Met.
I should also say that in enjoyed GJ’s Marschallin. It was very different from Harteros, remarkably well sung (considering the size of her voice, the difficulties she had always had with control and the concurrent repertoire – Brunnhilde a week later?!?!) and affecting. She looked lovely.
First of all, thanks! I’ve experienced some operatic review writing-block. The last performances I’ve seen were so uninspiring that I really did not want to write about them, and that led me to a lack of will of going to the opera house to risk another colossal loss of time. I’ll probably regret that next year when I’ll have left Berlin… I already regret missing the Komische Oper’s Meistersinger and the Japanese opera at the Staatsoper… I also feel guilty for failing to post my excellent impressions of Stella Doufexis beautiful and adept singing as soprano no.2 in Mozart’s Mass K 427 in the Konzerthaus.
As for the Rosenkavalier, the comparison with Gwyneth Jones is no coincidence. I agree with Loki: her dramatic soprano did not really fit the part, but that did not prevent her from offering some beautiful performances in it – mainly because there was real emotional generosity, which is something that has to be in the core of any interpretation of the role of the Marschallin. Although Harteros sang scrumptiously, probably better than almost anyone else, I felt that, at least last evening, she emotionally connected to the role only intermittently. It is very difficult just to trust one’s own instincts in a new part – and that’s understandable that in the last minute she would rather “use” Schwarzkopf’s Ein halb Mal lustig, ein halb Mal traurig for instance. That is why I trust that in a couple of years Harteros’s Marschallin won’t invite any comparison, but be in a class of its own.
I think that the fact that Jones’ voice was anything but perfect for the part makes her performance her perhaps the most vocally remarkable in her entire discography. Her ability to scale down, maintain control and still use the voice to such exceptional effect is very impressive.
I agree, of course!
As for the production, the thing about the Rosenkavalier is that the “innovative” touch was to set the story in fake late XVIIIth century. When you set it in any other historical period, this very important point is missed*. That is why these glamorous traditional stagings can be so appealing. What I wonder, though, is why a psycologically more complex approach cannot be matched to wigs and boiseries. Those were the days when Laclos wrote Dangerous Liaisons, to start with. For example, there is an issue of sexual ambiguities here rarely explored – one of the reasons why Octavian is not a tenor (beside the fact that Strauss did not want it) is that the whole Ochs/Mariandl situation could only be shown to an audience back then in the format of slapstick, the guy in girl’s clothes unmistakably masculine. And this is not the case here – although Ochs boasts he is a specialist in women, he does not see that Octavian is a guy (and he was close enough to feel the difference) and, most important, Octavian volunteers to play the part of Mariandl in very “risky” circumstances. He could have at least expected a kiss! Making a Regietheater staging of it, of course, does not mean that there is going to be more depth – what I am saying is beyond this. In other words, reading the libretto is a requirement that cannot be replaced by simply having lots of imagination.
The Viennese preoccupation with gender disguises was cleverly exploited by Hofmannstahl and Strauss. Usually it’s a girl disguised as a boy but in Der Rosenkavalier they take it a step further by having a woman portray a boy who disguises himself as a girl. Not even Shakespeare was this inventive (or if he was nothing comes immediately to mind).