Capriccio
Richard Strauss - 15.05 > 25.05 2027
The story
In a castle near Paris, Countess Madeleine must choose between two suitors: Flamand, a composer, and Olivier, a poet. But beyond this romantic rivalry lies an aesthetic debate: what takes precedence, words or music? Around them, a theatre director, an actress, and an art-loving count passionately debate…
Libretto
Richard Strauss and Clemens Krauss
In 1941, during the Second World War, Richard Strauss composes his last opera. Capriccio carries the subtitle "conversation piece in one act", and that is indeed what it is: an opera about opera, an elegant meditation on the eternal debate between text and music. Strauss transposes his own artistic questions into a refined style that evokes Viennese classicism while retaining the harmonic modernity of the composer.
The work concludes with an anthology scene: the countess's monologue in front of her mirror, a page of luminous beauty where Strauss offers the soprano a final song of infinite grace. This unresolved finale reflects the ambiguity intended by the composer: in opera, can one truly prioritise words over music or music over words? Strauss, with mischief and tenderness, leaves the question open.
