Der Rosenkavalier

Der Rosenkavalier (The Knight of the Rose) is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss (1864-1949) to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal.

The original text

Hofmannsthal took several characters and elements of the plot from French composer Claude Terrasse’s operetta L’Ingénu libertin (1907) and French dramatist Molière’s Monsieur de Pourceaugnac (1669).

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

1964: Concert version presented in the Johannesburg City Hall with Anton Hartman conducting the SABC Symphony Orchestra. The soloists were Joyce Barker, Jossie Boshoff and Nellie du Toit.

1986: Presented by CAPAB Opera in the Nico Malan Opera House (23 August – 1 September), with Nellie du Toit/Patricia Sadan as Marschallin, Sally Presant as Octavian, Carina Cronjé sang Sophie and Karl Dumphart was Baron Ochs. Produced by Murray Dickie, CAPAB Orchestra conducted by Karl-Heinz Dold.

1991: Presented by CAPAB Opera (25 March – 8 April)

2010: Presented by Cape Town Opera (29 May – 9 June)

Sources

Wayne Muller. 2018. A reception history of opera in Cape Town: Tracing the development of a distinctly South African operatic aesthetic (1985–2015). Unpublished PhD thesis.

Schwarm, Betsy. "Der Rosenkavalier". Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 Apr. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Der-Rosenkavalier.

Alexandra Xenia Sabina Mossolow. 2003. The career of South African soprano Nellie du Toit, born 1929. Unpublished Masters thesis. University of Stellenbosch.