Well, I suppose that trying to maintain any realistic kind of balance between the two is abit of a tight-rope walk, really, even for someone of Strauss's abilities. I don't think that he always wrote for the sake of making a living at all, actually, because I reckon that, apart from any other considerations, he could have made at least as good a living as a superstar conductor had that been either his preference or something he was at least prepared to countenance as an alternative. His composing schedule had, I think, more to do with adherence to general self-imposed acreative disciplines rather than the cash motivation. I therefore get equally riled when I hear Strauss dismissed in that kind of manner, as though he was merely some kind of Andrew Lloyd Jenkins with talent (rather as Beecham once spoke of Karajan as "a kind of musical Malcolm Sargent"). I also agree with his biographer Norman del Mar's conclusion that the period between Rosenkavalier and Capriccio was a comparatively fallow one for him that he filled in a kind of "vamp-till-ready" manner (my words, not his!), keeping the wheels of his creative imagination oiled and running while waiting in the hope that things would get better for him (which they did in the 1940s). It's not that simple, of course (as del Mar agreed) and he did still manage some remarkable achievements duing that time, Die Frau ohne Schatten perhaps being one of the finest.

I have to say, therefore, that I don't by any means go along with Richard's assessment that Strauss "constantly let himself down by disdaining any real intellectual engagement with what he was doing and its relation to the rest of reality"; I accept that, during that inter-War period, he wrote quite abit of music that was undoubtedly well below his best, but I've never had any impression that even during those days he just churned out stuff because he had the ability to do so, regardless of any kind of engagement with it.

Those of you who see portents of the forthcoming war in Rosenkavalier may be interested in the 2004 Salzburg Festival Production by Robert Carsen, which is available on DVD.

From the blurb for the DVD:

"Director Robert Carsen and his designer Peter Pabst adopted an approach to the piece that asked questions about the setting. Were Hofmannsthal (the librettist) and Strauss offering a nostalgic transfiguration of Maria Theresa’s Vienna in the work or were they attempting to portray the decadent, valedictory atmosphere of the dying Habsburg monarchy? Both clearly came down in favour of the second of these interpretations: they transferred the action to the time at which the opera was written, to the final years of the Habsburg monarchy, shortly before the outbreak of the First World War.

The wide stage of the Großes Festspielhaus allowed [Carsen] to keep the main action centre-stage, while the surrounding spaces were used to comment on the action. The first act, tinted in a decorative deep-red, sets the story in a corrupted, sarcastic society where chances for the development of authentic love are very low. The second act, all silvery black and white, sees Octavian riding on a horse bearing the silver rose for Sophie, a token of Ochs’ intentions. Baron Ochs’ monologue amidst the waltzes takes the form of a series of confessions made to a Sigmund Freud-like figure, evoking Viennese society at the beginning of the last century. The last act then takes place in a bordello, again depicting the decadence of noble society and when the final curtain falls, the soldiers who have been a constant presence, go into the war that has been threatening the decadent scene throughout the opera."

The production cause a sensation at the time, particularly for the large number of naked prostitutes and customers wandering around the bordello in which the last Act was set.

Despite some of its more outrageous aspects, I thought the production was, at heart, a serious response to some of the concerns about the nature of this opera that others on this Board have already articulated.

The piece is pretty well performed as well. Its conducted by Semyon Bychkov and the cast includes Adrianne Pieczonka, Franz Hawlata, Angelika Kirchschlager and Miah Persson.

Its good in parts isn't it?  I have never felt the slightest pang of sympathy for the Marschallin and with the possible exception of Sophie find the characters unappealing.  That dreadful heavy-footed 'humour' at the expense of Ochs is second-rate farce - comedy wasn't Strauss's forte.  Some of the music is exquisite and the tingle factor at the Presentation of the Rose never fails.  As for Britten's reaction to the Trio, I suppose it takes all sorts.  By an odd coincidence my introduction to this magnificent piece of music in live performance was at the Snape Summer School in the 1980's when I heard Joan Cross direct three young singer in an overwhelming account at the end of their course.  At least BB never banned the score.  And isn't the Italian Tenor's aria one of the most beautiful tenor show pieces?

#34      Yes, gradus, it is rather good in lots of parts.   My introduction to the opera was in the 2 LP set from an abridged 1933 recording with Lotte Lehmann (Marschallin), Maria Olszewska (Octavian) and - gloriously - Elisabeth Schumann (Sophie); VPO conducted by Robert Heger.   An effective CD transfer came along in 1992 on the EMI References label.

I saw several performances at the Coliseum and Covent Garden but treasure memories of Josephine Barstow as Octavian in the mid 70s and later as the Marschallin.   In the late 80s, Sena Jurinacs, earlier an acknowledged Octavian, gave one of her last recitals at the Wigmore Hall.  She would have been in her late 60s but was a natural communicator and knew how to cut corners with her voice.   Her finest moment came when she sang, as a final encore, the Marschallin's Act 1 monologue, Da geht er hin (So there he goes, the wretched puffed-up fellow) and there was a hushed intensity in the Hall which always made the Wiggie rather special.   A man sitting next to me - we were both 'regulars', slumped in his seat and asked me what we had just heard as Mme Jurinac made no announcement.   I explained the reference to Ochs, followed by her reflection on being ordered into holy wedlock, on leaving her convent and the two 'hows' which punctuate the aria.  He reacted to the subliminal impact of the music and the performance and I pointed him in the direction of the abridged performance.  A few weeks later, he stopped me to express his thanks and was keen to hear the full opera. I  recommended the Rotterdam PO/ Edo de Waart - one of the best (see # 13 on this thread - although, as I write, I am now listening to Bernstein's VPO 1971 recording (1984 on CBS; a Japanese CD pressing) with Christa Ludwig (Marschallin), Gwyneth Jones (Octavian) and Lucia Popp(Sophie).   A rather delicate interpretation.

Yes, that bit about stopping the clock is good isn't it? The main thing I find irritating about the Marschallin is that I read she's only meant to be about 29 or something, but I suppose things were different then.

IIRC Hofmanstahl specifies that the Marschallin is 32.  But, remembering that this is set in 18th Century Vienna, she probably would have been married at 17 and having babies on an annual basis for some years after that.  I don't know what the figures are for 1780's Vienna, but average life expectancy in England in 1820 was 41 - now of course the Marschallin was an aristo who could be expected to live longer than that, but even so 32 was a lot older then than it is now.

In Figaro?  I can't remember any specific date in the book, but if she married Almaviva at 17, and a marriage can keep going for 3 years, she could be as young as 20!!!!

Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice is still in her teens. 

Wasn't she (the Countess) also supposed to be 32 at the time of The Marriage of Figaro? I can't quote Chapter let alone Verse but it's something that somehow lodged in the memory from a talk Jonathan Miller gave before his ENO Figaro, yonks ago. He caused a mild flurry in that production by having a servant bring in two small Almavivas at the beginning of Act 2 to be kissed by the Countess before they were removed, leaving her alone again, prompting Porgi, amor.

So were the Countess and the Marschallin both an ancient 32?