She in turn tells her brother that his love of words is in keeping with his attraction to the actress Clairon. The Count, the Countess's brother, teases his sister about her two suitors, Flamand and Olivier, and tells her that her love of music is due in part to the attention Flamand pays her. La Roche, Olivier and Flamand proceed to a rehearsal. Olivier has written a new play for the Countess's birthday the next day, which La Roche will direct, with the Count and the famous actress Clairon performing. The theatre director La Roche wakes from a nap, and reminds them both that impresarios and actors are necessary to bring their work to life. They engage in a rather furious argument which is semi-spoken rather than sung in definable arias. (This sextet is played in concert form as a piece of chamber music, and before the curtain rises.) Olivier and Flamand debate the relative powers of words and music. Place: A château near Paris Time: About 1775 Īt the Countess Madeleine's château, a rehearsal of Flamand's newly composed sextet is in progress. This question is dramatized in the story of a Countess torn between two suitors: Olivier, a poet, and Flamand, a composer. The theme of the opera can be summarized as 'Which is the greater art, poetry or music?' This was a topic of discussion at the time of the setting, as in a 1786 Salieri opera named for the issue, Prima la musica e poi le parole ( First the Music and Then the Words).

Capriccio received its American professional premiere at The Santa Fe Opera in 1958 after the Juilliard School staged it in 1954 with Gloria Davy and Thomas Stewart as the aristocratic siblings. The final scene for Countess Madeleine is often heard as an excerpt. But at Hamburg in 1957, Rudolf Hartmann, who directed the opera at its premiere in Munich, inserted an interval at the point when the Countess orders chocolate, and other directors have often followed suit, including performances at Glyndebourne Festival Opera. This, in combination with the work's conversational tone and emphasis on text, has prevented it from achieving great popularity. The opera originally consisted of a single act lasting close to two and a half hours. Strauss then took it on, but finally recruited Krauss as his collaborator.

Strauss and Clemens Krauss wrote the German libretto, but its genesis came from Stefan Zweig in the 1930s, and Joseph Gregor further developed the idea several years later. It received its premiere performance at the Nationaltheater München on 28 October 1942. 85, is the final opera by German composer Richard Strauss, subtitled 'A Conversation Piece for Music'.

Capriccio lyric opera chicago