Metropolitan Opera Archives

For the Baltimore premier of "Der Rosenkavalier," at the Lyric last evening, the audience was as large, as brilliant and, certainly, much more demonstrative than at Monday's [first] night.

This is an opus unique in many ways. Stemming from Mozart, through the Waltz King dynasty, it still speaks essentially of Richard Strauss alone in its richly eloquent score, its expressive tone characterizations.

Yet to the composer cannot be grated the entire credit, since he was singularly fortunate in the Hugo von Hofmannsthal libretto, which provided a drama that would be effective in speech alone, granted the extravagant and reckless romanticism of the rococo age.

FAMILIAR SENTIMENT

For the period chosen is the era made magnificent by the court of Maria Theresa, but there is no need to adjust one's appreciation to the viewpoint of another age. Here we find familiar sentiment, humor, wit and beauty, transmuted through a vision of Eighteenth Century Vienna.

As said the librettist, the formula is simple enough. "A fat, elderly self-satisfied suitor, favored by the lady's father, is supplanted by a handsome young fellow."

But this makes no mention of the young suitor's love affair with a great princess, a court lady twice his age - of the elderly lover's flirtation with the Princess' supposed maid, actually the youth disguised - of the plot that reveals the old scoundrel's true character - nor the luxuriant entourage that frames the whole.

EXPRESSIVE VOICE

As the Princess who ultimately chooses to arrange a suitable union for the young lover, Lotte Lehmann gave a moving delineation of the lovely woman menaced by time and adorned the role with many subtle ornaments. Her voice was always expressive, and frequently beautiful, in a role long preeminently her own.

Rise Stevens, who first appeared this season in the role of Octavian, the young lover, won the audience at once by her effective impersonation of the youth, carrying the illusion through the episode of disguise as a girl!

Her voice, though rated a contralto, might well rank as a mezzo, enabling her to cope with the exacting demands of this, as of every Straussian score, with a degree of success that won an enthusiastic reception.

SURPRISING HABIT

The delectable Baron Ochs of Emanuel List is a tradition almost as admirable as the Princess of Mme. Lehmann, except for a habit, surprising in so experienced an artist, of permitting his watchfulness of the conductor's baton to be continually obvious.

Julius Huehn's Fanninal was well sung, and the role of his guileless daughter Sophie was appropriately cast in choosing Marita Farell, though the music did not lie comfortably for her until the romantic duet, following the great trio with Octavian and the Princess, that is the final glory of the score.

Though the tenor of John Carter was pathetically inadequate for the Italian aria sung in the "grand levee," there were innumerable admirable "bits" contributing to the splendid whole, not to be omitted being Doris Doe as Annina.

Erich Leinsdorf conducted with spirit and intelligence, but the nature of our Lyric's construction appears to cause great difficulty to every leader, in subduing his forces to a point sympathetic to the singers.

The delectable waltzes that embellish the score contributed a seductive atmosphere, and a note must be made of the glorious costumes and brilliant stage pictures.

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