Richard Strauss

Capriccio

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SUMMARY

Olivier has written a love poem. Flamand has set it to music. Both have dedicated their works to the beautiful Countess Madeleine. Her dilemma is acute: to choose between Olivier and Flamand, between words and music, seems almost cruel. Is there no way that their powers can be combined, at least in art, if not in love?

Cheryl Barker makes her role debut as the Countess in Richard Strauss’s meditation on opera and aesthetics. The story is wafer thin, the argument is unresolved, but the music is magnificent, a tangled web of operatic references and piquant melodies. Strauss’s final opera leaves us awed by the transcendent power of opera.

Director John Cox has a special relationship with Strauss: his recent production of Arabella was showered with awards. Now he is back to tease out the subtleties of Capriccio in this stunning production, set in the 1930s and inspired by the elegant lines of artist and fashion designer Erté.