OPERA BITES: Der Rosenkavalier is an elegant and wistful opera

On Saturday, the high-definition broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera will be Richard Strauss' romantic masterpiece "Der Rosenkavalier." The performance begins at noon at the Town Plaza Cinema in Cape Girardeau.

In "Der Rosenkavalier" Strauss and his librettist, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, created their most realistic characters. The Marschallin, who is the main character in the opera, is a beautiful, elegant and sad woman. She is sad because time is slipping away and she fears becoming old (she is 32 years old and her lover, Octavian, is 17). Her young lover (the part is sung by a mezzo-soprano) falls in love with a beautiful young girl named Sophie. The Marschallin is the one who introduces him to Sophie even though she knows that she will lose Octavian by doing so. Perhaps the Marschallin will have other lovers; Strauss thought that she would.

The most poignant moment in the opera comes at the end of Act I when the Marschallin sings these words:

"Time, after all ... time leaves the world unchanged./Time is a strange thing./While one is living one's life away,/It is absolutely nothing./Then, suddenly, one is aware of nothing else./At times I hear it flowing -- inexorably./At times, I get up in the middle of the night/And stop all the clocks, all of them."

There is also a comic character in the opera; his name is Baron Ochs. He fancies himself an irresistible lover and is excited about his forthcoming marriage to Sophie. Things don't exactly turn out as he had planned as the other characters play some pretty funny practical jokes on him. He never does marry Sophie, much to his chagrin.

This is an opera of great charm and elegance. The Met sets are gorgeous and reflect the style of Vienna, Austria, during the reign of the Empress Maria Theresa. Soprano Renee Fleming sings the role of the Marschallin, and mezzo-soprano Susan Graham is Octavian.

It is amazing to me that the man who wrote "Salome" and "Elektra," two of the weirdest operas in the repertory, could write "Der Rosenkavalier," the most elegant and wistful of all operas.

Barb Herbert of Cape Girardeau is an opera lover and host of KRCU's "Sunday Night at the Opera."