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Project collects

• Performers of the premieres
• Greatest performers
• Persons are sorted on this page by roles and birth years

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Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier

• Comic opera in three acts, in German
• Music by Richard Georg Strauss
• Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal
• Based loosely on the novel 'Les amours du chevalier de Faublas' by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière's comedy 'Monsieur de Pourceaugnac'
• Title of the opera: Until the premiere, the working titles were 'Komödie für Musik' and 'Ochs auf Lerchenau'
• Time: 1740s, in the first years of the reign of Empress Maria Theresa
• Place: Vienna, Austria. Act 1 takes place in the Marschallin's bedroom, Act 2 in the von Faninals' palace, and Act 3 in a private room in a shabby inn.
• First Premieres in different countries
  • Germany: World Premiere at Das Königliches Opernhaus, Dresden on 26 January 1911. The Premiere in Documents
  • United Kingdom: 29 January 1913 (ROH Covent Garden, London)
  • United States: 9 December 1913 (Metropolitan Opera, New York)
  • Argentina: July 1915 (Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires)
  • Sweden: 20 April 1920 (Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm)
  • Spain: 2 April 1921 (Gran Teatro del Liceo, Barcelona)
  • Finland: 12 October 1923 (Finnish National Opera, Helsinki)
• Roles
  • The Feldmarschallin, Princess Marie Thérèse von Werdenberg, soprano
    • Margarethe Bertha Ida Siems in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
    • Hariclea Darclée
    • Frieda Hempel
    • Lotte Krause
    • Rosa Raisa
    • Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
    • Lisa Della Casa
    • Evelyn Lear
    • Leonie Rysanek
    • Régine Crespin
    • Elisabeth Söderström (in a recording she sings all three parts: Marschallin, Octavian, and Sophie)
    • Christa Deiber
    • Montserrat Caballé
    • Renata Scotto
    • Kiri Te Kanawa
    • Denia Mazzola Gavazzeni
  • Octavian, Count Rofrano, "Quinquin", her young lover, mezzo-soprano (en travesti)
    • Eva Helga Bertha von der Osten in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
    • Elisabeth Schumann
    • Vera Schwarz
    • Germaine Léontine Angélique Lubin
    • Gilda Dalla Rizza
    • Margit S. Karpeles-Schenker
    • Conchita Rubenstein
    • Jarmila Daubková
    • Blanche Thebom
    • Sena Jurinac
    • Elisabeth Söderström
    • Christa Deiber
  • Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau, the Marschallin's cousin, bass
    • Karl Perron in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
    • Richard Mayr
    • Kurt Böhme
    • Jules Bastin
    • Kurt Moll
    • Aage Haugland
  • Sophie von Faninal, soprano
    • Minnie Nast in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
    • Selma von Halban
    • Amelita Galli-Curci
    • Elisabeth Schumann (85 performances)
    • Anna Case
    • Adele Kern
    • Hilde Güden
    • Anneliese Rothenberger
    • Elisabeth Söderström
    • Teresa Stich-Randall
    • Reri Thomson
    • Lucia Popp
  • Herr von Faninal, Sophie's rich parvenu father, baritone
    • Karl Roderich Scheidemantel in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
    • Eberhard Waechter
  • Marianne Leitmetzerin, Sophie's duenna, soprano
    • Riza Eibenschütz in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
    • Aenne Michalsky
  • Valzacchi, an intriguer, tenor
    • Hans Rüdiger in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
    • Hermann Gallos
  • Annina, his niece and partner, contralto
    • Erna Freund in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
    • Gertrud Rünger
    • Rosette Anday
    • Kerstin Meyer
  • A notary, bass
    • Ludwig Ermold in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
  • An Italian singer, tenor
    • Fritz Soot in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
    • Anton Dermota
    • Nicolai Gedda
    • Fritz Wunderlich
    • Luciano Pavarotti
    • Plácido Domingo
  • Three noble orphans, soprano, mezzo-soprano, contralto
    • Marie Keldorfer, Gertrude Sachse, Paula Seiring in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
  • A milliner, soprano
    • Elisa Stünzner in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
  • A vendor of pets, tenor
    • Josef Pauli in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
  • Faninal's Major-Domo, tenor
    • Fritz Soot in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
  • A police inspector, bass
    • Julius Puttlitz in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
    • Franz Markhoff-Hofbauer
  • The Marschallin's Major-Domo, tenor
    • Anton Erl in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
  • An innkeeper, tenor
    • Josef Pauli in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
  • Four lackeys, tenors, basses
    • Josef Pauli, Wilhelm Quidde, Rudolf Schmalnauer, Robert Büssel in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
  • Four waiters, tenor, basses
    • Wilhelm Quidde, Rudolf Schmalnauer, Robert Büssel, Franz Nebuschka in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
• Scenographers
  • Teo Otto (Salzburg Festival, 1962)
• Costume designors
  • Erni Kniepert (Salzburg Festival, 1962)
• Stage directors
  • Max Reinhardt in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
  • Lothar Wallerstein
  • Paul Czinner film director (Salzburg Festival production, 1962) with stage director Rudolf Hartmann https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAw4iDDWby8&t=381s
  • Erich von Wymetal (Salzburger Festspiele 1938)
  • Rudolf Hartmann stage director (Salzburg Festival production, 1962) with film director Paul Czinner https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAw4iDDWby8&t=381s
  • Luchino Visconti (ROH Covent Garden 1966)
  • Ruth Dessau (Frankfurt)
  • Otto Schenk
  • Götz Friedrich (Stuttgart)
• Conductors
  • Ernst von Schuch in the World Premiere on 26 January 1911
  • Franz Schalk
  • Dr. Alfred Hertz
  • Egisto Emilio Tango
  • Bruno Walter
  • Tullio Serafin
  • Thomas Beecham
  • Otto Klemperer
  • Hans Knappertsbusch
  • Fritz Reiner
  • Erich Kleiber
  • Artur Rodziński
  • Clemens Heinrich Krauss
  • Karl August Leopold Boehm
  • Hans Swarowsky
  • Josef Alois Krips
  • Herbert von Karajan
  • Georg Solti
  • Leonard Bernstein
  • Georges Prêtre
  • Bernard Johan Herman Haitink, CH KBE
  • Lorin Varencove Maazel
  • Carlos Kleiber
  • James Lawrence Levine

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