Capriccio

The historic debate regarding the relative importance that words should have in opera with respect to the music constituted a source of fascination for Richard Strauss throughout his life. In Capriccio, he delves deeper in this topic, using an exceptional libretto, fruit of a suggestion from his dear Stefan Zweig, who found a brief comedy in the British Library which served as inspiration for that which would be the last opera of the German composer; a comedy, which incidentally had already served as inspiration for Antonio Salieri. From this point a plot arose, full of irony, featuring a Countess –symbol of art- whose affection were found to be divided between two suitors, a poet and a composer. Who should she chose? Decidedly Strauss placed special importance on the inteligibility of the text that was sung, while not scrimping on the musical resources, unfolding a palette of incomparable harmonies and textures. Capriccio is without a doubt an overwhelming synthesis of all that the musician had been able to improve over his career, something of which he himself was conscious: proud of his work, he rejected the suggestion from his librettist to initiate a new project. Quite simply he could not see how he could do any better.

New production by the Teatro Real, in co-production with the Opernhaus Zürich and the Göteborg Opera