Aaron Rabushka wrote:

>Yes, although I'd forgotten many of the plot points I must agree that Frau
>ohne Schatten is remarkable.  Rarely has love ever been set so radiantly to
>music as in the lead-in to Act I's Falcon Aria and the same acts concluding
>watchman's trio.  Another Viennese recording of note is the old London (?)
>with Leonie Rysanek as the Princess and (IIRC) Boehm conducting.  Magical.

My first encounter with this opera was at a live performance, here in
San Francisco.  It was in 1976, and for this new production (by Nikolaus
Lehnhoff) Boehm was invited to conduct.  It was indeed magical.  Rysanek
was the Empress, and the Emperor was sung by a Finnish tenor (Matti Kastu)
whom I have never heard of since.  Walter Berry was a wonderful Barak -
I count myself extremely fortunate to have seen him on stage a number of
times.  The Nurse was sung with sinister force by Ruth Hesse.  The set
design, which was all in shimmering silver, except for the scenes with the
Dyer and his wife, created a fairy-tale, fantasy world.  Coming completely
new to the music, I felt I had never heard anything more beautiful.

Four years later, Rysanek sang the same role, but this time with James
King as the Emperor.  I never cared for King's voice, but he was better in
this role than on the other occasions I heard him.  This time, in a rather
unexpected piece of casting, Birgit Nilsson sang the Dyer's wife.  Of
course, she was far too old for the part, but she brought terrific zest
to it, and she and Rysanek had great rapport in their scenes together.The
conductor on this occasion was Berislav Klobucar.

As time has gone by, I have become less enamoured of von Hofmannsthal's
libretto.  It seems to me pretentious in many ways; and as Steve points
out, Von H.  had a somewhat patronising attitude toward Strauss.  (let me
quickly add that I don't have feminist objections to the plot, however).
But the miracle is that Strauss was able to take this overblown libretto
and clothe it in music with such a direct appeal to the senses that every
scene in the opera reverberates with truth.  There was something very
down-to-earth about Strauss, I feel: he had the craftsman's confidence in
his music to bring off the effect he wanted - and to brush aside von H's
theorising when it seemed irrelevant.

It is a magnificent opera: the Falcon music haunts me still.

Julia Werthimer
California USA          email: [log in to unmask]