1,000 Rosenkavaliers in Vienna
mainCounting all available fingers and toes, the Vienna Opera reckons its coming performance of Richard Strauss’s masterpiece on March 21 will be the 1,000th in its history.
Adrianne Pieczonka will sing the Marschallin, Peter Rose is Ochs, Stephanie Houtzeel plays Octavian, Chen Reiss is Sophie and Markus Eiche Faninal. Adam Fischer conducts.
The opera’s Austrian premiere was given by the company on April 8, 1911 with Marie Gutheil-Schoder as Octavian and Richard Mayr as Baron Ochs. Ernst von Schuch conducted.
Wow! I saw a production in Vienna on New Year’s Eve 1979 before catching the Chopin express to Poland, So wish I had kept a program copy.
Sorry – but if you visited the Vienna State Opera on New Year‘s Eve 1979 you saw the „Fledermaus“ and not the „Rosenkavalier“.
OMG! If she says that she saw Der Rosenkavalier…SHE SAW DER ROSENKAVALIER!
Well, maybe she did see Rosenkavalier, but she did not see it at the Staatsoper on New Year’s Eve of 1979, because they were doing Fledermaus that evening. The next day they did Rosenkavalier. The day before they did Fidelio. You can see for yourself:
https://archiv.wiener-staatsoper.at/search?since=30.12.1979&until=01.01.1980
Helene, it may have been two days earlier — on 29 December 1979, instead of New Year’s Eve — when you saw Der Rosenkavalier at Wiener Staatsoper.
Here is the starry line-up of singers for that evening: Gundula Janowitz as Die Feldmarschallin, Karl Ridderbusch as Der Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau, and Brigitte Fassbaender as Octavian. Staging by Otto Schenk.
Ah, Gundula Janowitz….
A voice from heaven!
One should savour this traditional production while it lasts. I am sure the next production will be a Regietheater version.
I saw it twice in Fall 1978. Does anyone else have a memory of the horn players setting their instruments on the edge of the stage?
Ambiguity alert: does new years eve 1979 mean the end of 1979 or the end of 1978? Just asking.
Surely we agree that Christmas Day 1979 is Dec. 25, 1979, right? Why should New Year’s Eve be treated differently? New Year’s Eve is Dec. 31. If you say New Year’s Eve 1979 and mean anything other than Dec. 31, 1979, you’re the one at fault.
My favorite Baron Ochs is Aage Haugland. Watch some of this scene, and look at the twinkle in his eyes and hear how he puts it into his voice (sorry about the ad):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D7abQTy71I&t=1760s
Brava to Adrianne Pieczonka for being the 1000th Marschallin