A touching performance by excellent singers including Camilla Nylund, Christoph Pohl, Daniel Behle and Nikolay Borchev

Subtitled »A Conversation Piece with Music«, Richard Strauss's »Capriccio«, which premiered in Munich in 1942, was the climax of the composer's stage work, a farewell to opera and a confirmation of his (ambivalent) insistence on the autonomy of art at a time of total war. In a rococo chateau near Paris, the poet Olivier, the composer Flamand and the Countess Madeleine not only negotiate their erotic relationship to one another, but also the question - basic to opera history - of what is more important: the music or the words? Prima la musica, poi le parole? Richard Strauss's response is to weave a fine musical tapestry, from the wonderful string sextet at the beginning of the opera, through the sparkling parlando, the seemingly weightless conversational tone, fugue, sonnet and octet, to the poetic moonlight piece and the sentimentalironic finale. At the work's conclusion, the undecided Countess interrogates her reflection in the mirror: »Can you help me find an ending to their opera? Is there one that isn't trivial?«

Cast & Crew

•       Camilla Nylund as Countess Madeleine
•       Christoph Pohl as The Count, her brother
•       Daniel Behle as Flamand, a musician
•       Nikolay Borchev as Olivier, a poet
•       Georg Zeppenfeld as La Roche, director of a theatre
•       Christa Mayer as The Actress Clairon

Director: Jens-Daniel Herzog

Additional Details

Label: Arthaus Musik

Genre: Classical

Language: German

Run Time: 145 mins

Region: 0

Release Date: 01/20/23

UPC: 4058407094593