La Monnaie / De Munt LA MONNAIE / DE MUNT
Capriccio
© Eve Arnold, Magnum

Opera

Capriccio

Richard Strauss

Presentation

OPERA AND LOVE: SAME RULES APPLY

‘An opera is an absurd thing. Orders are given in song; politics is discussed in a duet. One danses around a grave, and dagger thrusts are dealt out in music.’ In Capriccio, his last opera, Richard Strauss reflects on the opera genre, and more especially on the question of which actually takes priority – the music or the words. This dilemma is depicted metaphorically in this ‘Konversationsstück für Musik’: an 18th-century countess is faced with the heart-rending choice between the love of a composer and that of a poet. Strauss’s musical voice is here full of dramatic power, humour, and sentiment and reaches a peak of refinement, sometimes flirting with chamber music. In his debut at La Monnaie, the Hungarian director David Marton creates a dream-world in which theatre itself appears on stage, and the conductor Lothar Koenigs spurs our orchestra to heights of subtlety. ‘If you choose one, you lose the other! Doesn’t one always lose, when one wins?’

Gallery

Gallery

Capriccio
Capriccio - Écoutez l’introduction par Antonio Cuenca Ruiz by La Monnaie De Munt
Capriccio - Beluister de inleiding door Reinder Pols by La Monnaie De Munt
Dates & tickets

Dates

Cast
Cast

Conductor LOTHAR KOENIGS
Director DAVID MARTON
Set design & costumes CHRISTIAN FRIEDLÄNDER 
Costumes POLA KARDUM
Lighting HENNING STRECK
Dramaturgy BARBARA ENGELHARDT

Die Gräfin SALLY MATTHEWS
Der Graf, ihr Bruder DIETRICH HENSCHEL
Flamand, ein Musiker EDGARAS MONTVIDAS
Olivier, ein Dichter LAURI VASAR
La Roche, der Theaterdirektor KRISTINN SIGMUNDSSON
Die Schauspielerin Clairon CHARLOTTE HELLEKANT
Monsieur Taupe FRANÇOIS PIOLINO
Eine italienische Sängerin ELENA GALITSKAYA
Ein italienischer Tenor DMITRY IVANCHEY
Der Haushofmeister CHRISTIAN OLDENBURG
Diener ZENO POPESCU, NABIL SULIMAN, VINCENT LESAGE, BERTRAND DUBY, KRIS BELLIGH, PIERRE DERHET (MM Academy Laureate), MAXIME MELNIK (MM Academy Soloist), ARTUR ROZEK (International Opera Academy)
Eine junge Tänzerin FLORENCE BAS, MARGOT-ANNAH CHARLIER, GERMAINE FRANÇOIS

La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra

PRODUCTION La Monnaie / De Munt
CO-PRODUCTION Opéra national de Lyon 2014