Creating Der Rosenkavalier: From Chevalier to Cavalier

by Michael Reynolds

Overview

A full account of the making, during 1909-10, of Der Rosenkavalier with emphasis on its derivation from a French opérette of 1907, L'Ingenu libertin.

L'Ingenu libertin was seen in Paris by Count Harry Kessler and formed the basis of the opera then to be written by Hofmannsthal and Strauss. Previous scholarship has credited the narrative and characters of Der Rosenkavalier to much older French sources known to and studied by Hofmannsthal, but this book shows clearly how every element in L'Ingenu libertin is in fact taken (and transformed) by Kessler and Hofmannsthal into the work that made fortunes for Hofmannsthal and Strauss, but left Kessler on the sidelines.

Michael Reynolds casts a major new light on Strauss's most popular operatic success, highlighting in particular how it was that Hofmannsthal - who had not until then had any theatrical success as an original playwright - was advised and empowered by Kessler to produce a work that succeeded onstage from its very first performance and went rapidly on to conquer the stages of the world.

Michael Reynolds is an established writer on opera, a translator and an online music critic, an interest that he sustained throughout thirty years in the world of international diplomacy. His previous book for Boydell, About Suffolk, was an anthology of writing about his adopted county.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781783270491
Publisher:	BOYDELL & BREWER INC
Publication date:	06/28/2016
Pages:	263
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Major General Michael Reynolds CB joined the British Army in 1948, and was commissioned into the Queens Royal Regiment in 1950. In the course of a long and distinguished career, he served in Korea, where he was severely wounded, Northern Ireland and West Germany. On promotion to Major General he assumed command of NATO's Allied Command Europe Mobile Force (Land). In retirement, he became guest speaker on British Army and NATO battlefield tours in the Ardennes, publishing a number of detailed histories on World War 2 operations in Europe. He died in 2015.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations vi

Preface x

Acknowledgements xiii

Abbreviations xv

Overture 1

Beginners: On the page… 7

…and onto the stage 13

Act 1 The Young Libertine 21

Act 2 Who Was Harry Kessler? 73

Act 3 In two scenes and an Epilogue

Scene 1 Devising the scenario 113

Scene 2 Characterisation and authorship 154

Epilogue Two views of the authorship of Der Rosenkavalier 195

Creating Der Rosenkavalier - A Retrospective 209

Bibliography 217

Index 228

Editorial Reviews

If you love Der Rosenkavalier, Reynolds' book is essential-and fascinating-reading. Exoticandirrational Blog

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The 'Preface' to Michael Reynolds's charming book begins with a pithy statement: 'This is a book about creation, authorship and relationships'. Thus, in a nutshell, he lays out succinctly the course his monograph takes from uncovering a largely overlooked backstory to the creation of one of the most successful operas of the twentieth century. He presents a detailed account of the nature and origins of its authorship via a considered and sensitively pitched examination of the artistic relationships that underpinned it.

MUSIC AND LETTERS

This newly released paperback edition of Michael Reynolds' 2016 beautiful hardcover book will contain much that is news to fans - and who isn't? - of Richard Strauss' opera Der Rosenkavalier.

Limelight

Reynolds's book will reward both scholars and opera-lovers who will are interested in Der Rosenkavalier's co-creators or are fascinated by collaboration and the creative process. MUSIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION NOTES

The 'Preface' to Michael Reynolds's charming book begins with a pithy statement: 'This is a book about creation, authorship and relationships'. Thus, in a nutshell, he lays out succinctly the course his monograph takes from uncovering a largely overlooked backstory to the creation of one of the most successful operas of the twentieth century. He presents a detailed account of the nature and origins of its authorship via a considered and sensitively pitched examination of the artistic relationships that underpinned it. MUSIC AND LETTERS

If you love Der Rosenkavalier, Reynolds' book is essential-and fascinating-reading. Exoticandirrational Blog

From the Publisher

Reynolds's book will reward both scholars and opera-lovers who are interested in Der Rosenkavalier's co-creators or are fascinated by collaboration and the creative process.

MUSIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION NOTES