Strauss's 'Capriccio' by Curtis Opera Theatre and Opera Philly

Strauss co-wrote the libretto (with his friend, the conductor Clemens Krauss) and wrote the music too. This was his 15th opera, so no one was more qualified to weigh the comparative merits of melody and verse. He places his arguments in the mouths of poet Olivier and composer Flamand. “First the words, then the music”; “first the music, then the words.” “Music wakes feelings which need words”; “music lifts you to spheres where thought cannot penetrate.” “Let her decide.”

A third character, theater director La Roche, says that both words and music are subservient to what he provides: he puts the show on stage and entertains the public. His contribution to the debate: “The malady of opera is the deafening din of the orchestra. It swallows up the voices. The singers are driven to screaming, so no one can hear the text, good or bad.” (Strauss wrote Capriccio for a large orchestra but the music kept soft and transparent throughout, except in this section.)

Impossible to choose?

As her guests disperse, Countess commissions Olivier and Flamand to collaborate and write something based on the discussions of that afternoon, to help her figure out which of her suitors she prefers. In the final scene, the Countess is alone in the evening. Still undecided about her affections, she sings of the inseparability of words and music and consults her image in the mirror for a decision. A major-domo announces "Dinner is served" as the opera ends.

Countess Madeleine normally is played by a mature woman. I saw Kiri Te Kanawa perform the role in 1998 at age 53, and Renée Fleming in 2011 at 52. That need not be the case; Strauss did not specify the character’s age. Everyone in this production was in their 20s, and the countess was played by 25-year-old Kirsten MacKinnon. This made for a sexually charged interpretation, and the grabbing and kissing worked wonderfully. Previous productions always seemed like intellectual discourses but this was an exciting drama played on two levels at the same time. Of all the performances I’ve seen of Capriccio, this was the most compelling.

Skill, wit, and enthusiasm

The superb performers of this production, in the orchestra pit and on the stage, delivered this admixture with skill, wit, and enthusiasm. Chas Rader-Shieber directed so that every gesture and expression seemed natural. Tenor Evan LeRoy Johnson was Flamand, baritone Dogukan Kuran was Olivier, bass-baritone Tyler Zimmerman was La Roche, and baritone Jarrett Ott was the Countess’s brother, who was pursuing the actress Clarion, played by mezzo Lauren Eberwein. Ballerina Emily Davis was a party guest, as were Roy Hage and Ashley Milanese as caricatures of Italian singers.

Robert Perdziola’s set placed a stylish Art Deco château amidst the rubble of wartime bombing raids, and his costumes were in shades of beige and white. La Roche looked delicious with his streaked hair, dressed in a turtleneck with a topcoat draped from his shoulders.

The 59 Curtis Institute musicians, led by Timothy Myers, played Strauss’s subtle score with delicacy and rich color.

A retrograde rehash

Mid-20th century critics decided that the quality of Strauss’s work nosedived after Rosenkavalier (1911) and everything he wrote in his later years was a retrograde rehash. Composer Hans Werner Henze wrote that Strauss “lacks all moral force, even human decency. He was a fraud as a genius.”

It’s true that he seemed to retreat from the world when he turned away from a World War (while he unsuccessfully tried to get Nazi leaders to release his Jewish daughter-in-law from a concentration camp) to compose this treatise.

Strauss apparently was a selfish man, and he avoided confrontation with Nazism to concentrate on his own craft. Nevertheless, this is a fascinating summing up of his interests in life.