We’re featuring the music of Richard Strauss on this week’s Sunday Opera (12/15 3:00 p.m.) beginning with his final opera, “Capriccio,” completed when he was 77-years-old in 1941 and a production from the Saltzburg Festival.
This highly conversational work looks at the merits of music compared to poetry through the dilemma faced by a widowed countess (Elsa Dreisig) who is in love with both a composer/musician named Flamand (Sebastian Kohlhepp Flamand) and a poet named Olivier (Konstantin Krimmel) but can’t choose between them. The countess cannot choose between them, and the opera ends with her alone in the realization that the music and lyrics are inseparable, and if she chooses one, she will lose the other.
Other members of the cast include Bo Skovhus as the countess’ brother, Mika Kares as the director of a theatre named La Roche, Eve-Maud Hubeaux as Clairon, and Jorg Schneider as Monsieur Taupe. Christian Thielemann leads the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
Our afternoon of Strauss will continue with a performance of his ballet “Josephs Legende” in a recording featurijg the Staatskapelle Weimar lead by Stefan Solyom and his wonderfully eccentric Festliche Praludium featuring the Estonian National Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Naeme Jarvi.
