Film: Der Rosenkavalier
Release date: 29th November 2010
Certificate: E
Running time: 192 mins
Director: Paul Czninner
Starring: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Otto Edelmann, Sena Jurinac, Anneliese Rothenberger, Erich Kunz
Genre: Comedy/Romance/Musical
Studio: Park Circus
Format: Blu-ray
Country: UK
This version of Der Rosenkavalier was a 1962 stage performance of German composer Richard Strauss’s renowned comic opera. It was filmed live in the accompaniment of the Vienna State Opera Chorus and Philharmonic Orchestra, where the newly released Blu-ray boasts a painstakingly restored colour and image, highlighting the luscious production values of the three hour opus.
Der Rosenkavalier is a classic love story told across three acts with a powerful operatic score. The events follow the relationships and interactions between four main characters: the aristocratic Marschallin (Schwarzkopf); her young lover Octavian (Jurinac), a part sung by a woman; her philandering cousin Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau (Edelmann); and his young potential fiancée Sophie von Faninal (Rothenberger), the daughter of the wealthy Herr von Faninal (Kunz).
Baron Ochs, having arranged with Sophie's father Faninal to combine his noble rank with Faninal's money by marrying Sophie, asks the Marschallin to suggest an appropriate young man to be his Knight of the Rose, who will present a silver rose to Sophie on his behalf as a traditional symbol of courtship. She recommends Octavian.
When Octavian delivers the rose, he and Sophie fall in love on sight, and must figure out how to prevent Baron Ochs from marrying Sophie. They accomplish this in a comedy of errors that is smoothed over with the help of the Marschallin…
The main draw of this Blu-ray version of Der Rosenkavalier – aside from the impressive operatic performances of the large cast – is the newly restored image of the event. Filmed live in 1962, this version, of course, shows elements of grain consistent with the time in which it was originally produced. Yet, as an extra on the disc highlights, a painstaking process of restoration to the original print has greatly increased the vibrancy of the stage performance. As a result, the opulent costume and set designs seem to pop out of the screen. Indeed, this is perhaps as close to being in a live audience witnessing the opera unfold (short of being there at the time of filming) as one could imagine.
Director Paul Czinner’s framing of the three operatic acts of the story allows a sense of grandeur and adds to the atmosphere of watching a performance filmed live. Each of the three acts lasts for a significant amount of time, and, as with the necessity of a stage production, each of the acts largely remain statically situated within one set. While this is fine when watching a performance live in a theatre, there is a danger of stagnancy under the scope of a film. However, the production design and stage dressing largely negates this, as while Czinner is prohibited from making cinematic sweeping shots of Austrian vistas, the colourful and highly detailed costumes and interior sets are impressive in their splendour.
Title cards between acts set up the events still to occur in the following act, and are hugely evocative of the time in which the opera took place, as well as adding to the sense of magnificence of the aristocracy in a bygone age. There is also a tendency to focus on the large scale orchestra before and after each act; wisely highlighting the magnificent contribution of the orchestra conducted by Herbert Von Karajan, with Richard Strauss’s original music in front of the live audience.
The performances of the large cast, and particularly the centrally focused characters, are impressively faultless across the three hours. In the role of the Marschallin, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf especially expresses a beautiful consistency and range in her voice, whilst simultaneously expressing the anguish and emotional turmoil her character has to endure. Similarly the character of Octavian (Sena Jurinac) is well portrayed, where the female Jurinac continues the tradition of a female playing the role of the young male Octavian.
However, Otto Edelmann’s boorish Baron is almost too-much larger than life in a performance that only occasionally crosses into pantomime (although perhaps this is merely a result of acting on stage in front of an expectant audience). The film also shows its age in the fleeting depiction of the Marschallin’s child servant, who wears ‘black-face’ make-up. Ultimately, though, a product of its time as Der Rosenkavalier certainly is, this filmed version owes a debt of gratitude to Paul Czinner’s direction, with an opening title card intimating that Czinner’s developed method of capturing live performance is one which has helped to preserve this opera and others “for the enjoyment of wider audiences to-day and as a record for posterity.”
Newly restored in the high-definition Blu-ray format, Der Rosenkavalier looks and feels wonderfully vibrant, particularly when considering that almost fifty years have passed since this particular stage version was filmed live. While perhaps not to everyone’s liking (the three-hour plus runtime may be tough going for some), the operatic performances, from renowned sopranos such as Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Sena Jurinac, soar impressively. DB
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