Der Rosenkavalier: The Film

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Product Description ------------------- Newly restored and digitally remastered from the original 35 mm film, the legendary soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf stars in this accled film of Richard Strauss' delightful opera, Der Rosenkavalier. This Salzburg Festival production of Strauss' great work toured the world, and this filmed version was hailed by the New York Times as "Superb." Schwarzkopf performs her signature role as Princess von Werdenberg, an aging beauty involved with a younger man, Octavian. But when Octavian agrees to assist Baron Ochs by delivering the Baron's proposal of marriage to the beautiful young Sophie, the messenger and bride-to-be fall in love with each other! Now totally restored, this historic film of Der Rosenkavalier is a shining example of a performance style-and a musical art form-that is truly immortal. Review ------ This wonderful film has had a spotty release history, and has been in and out of print over the years, establishing itself as one of the must have cult items for a certain segment of the opera loving public. With this new Blu-ray transfer, hopefully it can stay in print long enough for fans to gobble it up, for it most certainly is a feast worthy of a Waltz King Richard Strauss. Elisabeth Schwarzkopf is a near-perfect heroine in this poignantly comic look at aging and starcrossed lovers. Though this is not a flashy production, it's of such inestimable historical value, and presents this opera in such a glorious performance, that it's easy to overlook some of the technical issues of this Blu-ray. Highly recommended. - Jeff Kauffman, Blu-ray.com --Blu-ray.com On Blu-ray, Paul Czinner's 1960 film of Der Rosenkavalier in a production from the Salzburg Festival displays not only the intricacy of the laces and the texture of the silks but the shabby plaster of the chamber separee in Act III. The swirls of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf s golden hair echo the rococo decor of her bedroom. Annina's blue dress and Valzacchi's plum suit suggest their flashy, unreliable characters. Our star trio dresses with far subtler taste, but who wouldn't love to attend a fete in the baron's gaudy embroidered waistcoat? The musical values may be taken for granted just from listing the names of the legendary cast, and they sing and act with such assured grace, dancing from casual conversation to full-voiced splendor, that one may not notice the skill that has gone into the show. As the Marschallin, Schwarzkopf hardly sings a line or offers a smile without meaning at least two things by it, one sophisticated and public, the other reflective, self-knowing. When her voice descends into plummy, almost alto tones, it is as if her soul were speaking to us, in an aside from her social self. Sena Jurinac is not the world's prettiest Octavian, but that suits the occasional clumsiness of a teenage lothario. As Sophie, Anneliese Rothenberger appears to be fifteen, bewildered by the world, and she sings the high lines flawlessly. Otto Edelmann does not overdo Ochs' vulgarity and is more credible thereby. His singing is genial and only misses the lowest notes. (What Ochs but Kurt Moll ever got them?) Erich Kunz is a nervous, fussy Faninal, as suites this nouveau-riche character; he makes a nice contrast to Renato Ercolani s knowing Valzacchi, a refugee from opera buffa with no pretensions to be anything else. Giuseppe Zampieri makes a superb, not too egregious Italian Singer. The huge supporting cast seems to know exactly what to do and whom to be and how not to go too far, from the venal Annina to the stuffy Notary lessons that many a grander, more vulgar Rosenkavalier might study with profit. ert von Karajan is in the full flush of enthusiasm for this score, and every gusty explosion of outrage, every lush, yearning gaze, is synchronized with the stage action. The pairing of the film with the Vienna Philharmonic is like a Viennese pastry accompanied by the ideally bracing glass of Sekt. --Opera News