In evaluating the 184 works that I’ve posted at Mixcloud over the past three years, I have presented a great deal of Verdi, virtually all of Puccini (more to come later this year, although Edgar may be a bit difficult), and Wagner (all seven works, with some duplication).  What are glaringly missing are the lesser-known works of Richard Strauss.  Outside out of a couple of Salomes and Elektras and a Frau, the omission of Der Rosenkalavlier is unforgivable.  

I hope to correct that this week with a performance from the 1960 Salzburger Festspiele with the divine Lisa Della Casa, Sena Jurinac, Otto Edelmann (who I saw as Ochs), and Hilde Güden.  On the podium is Herbert von Karajan, who, as I, perhaps tired of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf’s mannerism as die Feldmarschallin.

Der Rosenkavalier also holds a great personal place in my history as an operagoer,  as it was the first opera I ever attended at the Metropolitan.  In my university years, I never missed a Leonie Rysanek Marschallin and was treated to Octavians from Christa Ludwig, Rosalind Elias, and Yvonne Minton.  I am somewhat sad that the Nathaniel Merrill/Robert O’Hearne production which I saw in its debut and many seasons afterward—a lesson in design and direction—is now to be retired.  But we must move on, and Robert Carsen is an excellent candidate for a new production.

Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier
Wiener Philharmoniker
Herbert von Karajan
Salzburger Festspiele
26 July 1960

Die Feldmarschallin – Lisa Della Casa
Der Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau – Otto Edelmann
Octavian – Sena Jurinac
Herr von Faninal – Erich Kunz
Sophie – Hilde Güden
Jungfer Marianne Leitmetzerin – Judith Hellwig
Valzacchi – Renato Ercolani
Annina – Hilde Rössl-Majdan
Ein Polizeikommissär – Alois Pernerstorfer
Der Haushofmeister bei der Feldmarschallin – Erich Majkut
Der Haushofmeister bei Faninal – Siegfried Rudolf Frese
Ein Notar – Josef Knapp
Ein Sänger – Giuseppe Zampieri
Ein Wirt – Fritz Spelbauer