LIVE FROM THE MET: DER ROSENKAVALIER {TAPE 1 OF 3} (TV)
Summary
Tape one of three. One in this series of operas televised from New York City's Metropolitan Opera House. This presentation of Richard Strauss's comic opera "Der Rosenkavalier" is sung in German with English subtitles. Host Speight Jenkins sets the scene. Jenkins states that the opera takes place in Vienna during the 1740s, with Strauss's waltz music of a later period adding an idiosyncratic touch. Act I opens in the boudoir of Princess von Werdenberg, the Marschallin, wife of a high-ranking military man. She and her teenage lover, the much younger Octavian, are reveling in the love they feel after a night of passion. When they hear a noise, they think that the Marschallin's husband is approaching. Therefore, Octavian disguises himself as the chambermaid, Mariandel. The visitor is actually the Marschallin's overbearing and provincial cousin, Baron Ochs, who becomes captivated with the "servant girl" and spends much of his visit trying to seduce her. The real purpose of his visit is to announce his engagement to Sophie Faninal, a young girl from a nouveau riche family, and to ask the Marschallin to send a cavalier to perform the traditional noble custom of presenting one's fiancŽe with a silver rose, in recognition of the upcoming nuptials. At this point, the Marschallin admits a series of locals seeking an audience with her, including Valzacchi, the publisher of a scandal sheet; his niece Annina; and an Italian tenor who auditions for her with the aria "Di rigori armato il seno." She also introduces Ochs to her notary, who draws up a fair marriage agreement, much to the disappointment of the greedy baron. Meanwhile, Balzacchi and Annina tell the baron that they will serve as spies for him, in order to ensure that Sophie is as pure and marriageable as he has been led to believe. Once the hangers-on leave, the Marschallin looks at herself in the mirror and feels discouraged when she sees how much older she is than her young lover; she realizes that the difference in their ages will soon put an end to their affair. Octavian protests that he'll never leave her for a younger woman, but she is unconvinced. She sends him away to deliver the symbolic rose to Sophie. During the intermission, a brief history is given of the Metropolitan Opera's tour in San Francisco during the famous 1906 earthquake, followed by a discussion of the training of the Metropolitan Opera Chorus. Chorus Master David Stivender explains the process, and the chorus's rehearsal procedures are shown in a short documentary piece. Jenkins returns after the intermission to explain the importance of Hugo von Hoffmannstahl's opera libretto, and the librettist's use of Vienna's earthy dialect. Act II takes place in the reception room of the von Faninal family, where the household is excitedly preparing for the formal presentation of the silver rose by the noble cavalier Octavian. Continues with T86:1531.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS WNET New York, NY
- DATE: October 7, 1982 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:59:38
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T86:1529
- GENRE: Music
- SUBJECT HEADING: Operas
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1977-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- For "Live from the Met":
- Michael Bronson … Executive Producer
- Clemente D'Alessio … Producer
- Karen Adler … Associate Producer
- Kirk Browning … Director, Direction (Misc.), Television Director
- Alan Skog … Direction (Misc.), Associate Director
- For "Der Rosenkavalier":
- Nathaniel Merrill … Production (Misc.), Production by
- Bruce Donnell … Director, Stage Director
- Richard Strauss … Composer
- Hugo von Hofmannsthal … Librettist
- James Levine … Conductor
- Walter Taussig … Conductor, Stage Band Conductor
- Metropolitan Opera Orchestra … Symphony Orchestra
- Metropolitan Opera Chorus … Chorus
- David Stivender … Choral Director
- Speight Jenkins … Host
- Peter Allen … Announcer
- Tatiana Troyanos … Cast, Octavian
- Te Kanawa, Kiri … Cast, Princess von Werdenberg
- Shawn Lamont Robertson … Cast, a Blackamoor
- Judith Blegen … Cast, Sophie
- Luciano Pavarotti … Cast, a Singer
- Derek Hammond-Stroud … Cast, Faninal
- Kurt Moll … Cast, Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau
- Judith Goldberg … Cast, a Noble Orphan
- Joyce Olson … Cast, a Noble Orphan
- Janet Wagner … Cast, a Noble Orphan
- Lorraine Keane … Cast, a Noble Widow
- Linda Mays … Cast , a Milliner
- John Hanriot … Cast, an Animal Vendor
- Sam Carrea … Cast, a Hairdresser
- Elizabeth Coss … Cast, Mariandel
- Barbara Conrad … Cast, Annina
- Joseph Frank … Cast, Valzacchi
- Nico Castel … Cast, Major-Domo
- Anthony Laciura … Cast, Faninal's Major-Domo
- Charles Anthony … Cast, an Innkeeper
- Richard Vernon … Cast, a Police Commissary
- James Courtney … Cast, a Notary
- Elbert Aldridge … Cast, Leopold
- Hal Roberts … Cast, Doctor
- Arthur Apy … Cast
- Robert Manno … Cast
- Fawayne Murphy … Cast
- Sven Leaf … Cast
- For "The Earthquake" and "The Silver Rose":
- Alan Skog … Director
- Gerald Fitzgerald … Writer