An analysis of Der Rosenkavalier

An analysis of Der Rosenkavalier

By Mikaela Arnold

This essay will look at the 1960 opera version that took place in Salzburg at the Vienna state Opera house. The conductor is Herbert von Karajan and the director is Paul Czinner. In this version, the lover is played by a woman named Sena Jurinac. Princess Werdenberg is played by Elisabeth Schwarkopf. The stage looks amazing. It fits the whole scene. In the first scene, doors act as pathways to the different rooms of the house. The sound is clearer than one can imagine on a VHS tape.

Der Rosenkavalier is a German comedy Opera written during the early 1900’s. It was created by Richard Strass who is known for other operas such as Salome. The opera was written by Hugo von Hofmannsthal at the request of Strass. In the past, Hofmannsthal’s work was banned in England. (opera_intro)The opera is about a young princess named Princess Werdenberg falling in love with Count Octaviang Rofrano. The young princess was already married to the Field Marshal Prince Werdenberg. She is a cousin to Baron Ochs von Verchenau who sounds to be a not nice person. The Opera takes place in Feudal Vienna which may have took place in the Middle Ages based on the word “Feudal”.

According to Google Maps, the current location of Vienna is in the country of Austria. It is about a seven-hour drive to Germany. (Google Maps) The possible location that the opera becomes a mystery when one looks at the princess and prince’s name. They are given the name “Seidenberg”. Royalty usually are given the name of the place where they live in addition to their given name at birth. Werdenberg is not a place in Germany or Austria but is in Switzerland. Given the era that the opera takes place, in they could be a part of the German Empire. The German Empire included Austria-Hungary and Germany.

  When this Opera was written, Europe just got out of World War I. The German Empire ended in 1914 (Germany-from-1871-to-1918#ref297552), and Monarchy in Europe decreased. The monarchy had survived World War I but it is thought that, “not a few of the countries which have contributed most to human culture” (Loewenstein). Loewenstein stated that before the war there were kings, dukes, and princes. Afterwards, they left the country. Germany was trying to get Austria to join their union but they refused in fear that Germany would take over (Foerster). I believe that this opera was written to ease the tension of the citizens of Germany. It was important to remember the past of Germany and Austria but in a fun comedic way. It is important now because of the history of opera. The maker of this opera was a huge part of opera.

The opera starts with the lovers embracing on the bed. The princess wants to announce their relationship but the Count wants their relationship to stay a secret. This is probably because the Princess is already married and there might be a scandal. I feel bad for the young African slave serving the princess in a ridiculous outfit and had to walk backwards when he was done with his/her work. It made me smile and laugh when the Count was trying to find a hiding place when the guests came. He ended up crossdressing in a maid’s outfit. This is what confused me. The princess has maids but also slaves working at the castle. Not sure why she needs both. I noticed in operas that when there is panic, the characters voice becomes high pitched and they repeat words.

I do not like the Baron that much. He is set to marry a Nobel woman who was accepted by the Empress, but he is flirting at the Count who is pretending to be a maid. The Nobel woman, Sophia, was forced into the marriage by her father. She is frightened by the man, afraid of standing up for herself, and dependent on the Count to fight for her. He seems to want to take the maid to his house to make her/him his chamber maid. I don’t think he is serious about the marriage at all except that he is looking for someone to deliver the silver rose to his Fiancé. This is what drives the plot along. The Baron is the type of man that has multiple women at his side. He mistreats his bride to be, Sophia causing the Count to come to defend her honor.

According to the Baron, a silver rose is given to a wife before marriage. The rose seems to be one of the main symbols. According to rkdn.org (roses/colors), white roses mean “I am worthy of you.” and secrecy. A single rose means “utmost devotion.” This is the opposite of what the Barron is to his bride to be. The rose is more symbolic of the Count who works to fight the Barron. He deals with the Barron’s advances to catch him in the act and bring him to justice. It was a very funny part of the opera. It reminds me of people not recognizing Superman as Clark Kent. The Barron cannot recognize the maid as the Count. The complex plan is discussed in the next paragraph

There is a love triangle between Sophia, the princess, and the Count.  Despite the love triangle the Count works to take down the sleazy Baron in a complex plot. The Count dresses up as the maid that the Baron fell in love with. This was after the Count injured the Baron with a sword. In my opinion, the Baron overacted. Only his arm was injured and he was not dying. The Count flirts with the Baron and lures him to a Travon in Act 3. This is when my favorite moment of the opera happened. The Baron gets caught having more than one girl. I believed that the police arrested the Baron for this. The Count untimely chooses Sophia as his forever lover. There were no harsh feelings.

I am viewing this on a VHS recording of the opera thanks to YouTube. (playlist?list=PLCFABA7AF2136992A) The way that this opera is filmed, it is hard to discover all the technical elements that went into the opera. The camera centers us to view the important parts of the scene. In some scenes, we are treated to a full view of the stage mostly to set the setting of the scene. Most of the time, the camera tracks the most important character of the scene. We do not get to see the audience except for the very beginning of the opera. Sometimes I can see some video distortions that are common for a VHS tape. As for the technical elements of the opera, we can really get a sense of it in Act III.

In Act III, when the count is catching the Barron in the act, there are many hiding places. On a single square in the floor, there is a secret room that opens. A man hides in that secret room and can pop up to surprise the Barron. Along the walls there are mirrors that open into a secrete room to hide in. The citizens of the town enter the mirrors to hide and wait for the Barron. At a certain time, they pop out of the mirrors to scare the Barron. This was to make the count nervous and gave enough time for the maid to turn back in to the Count’s real identy.

 After the citizens went into their hiding spots, a person lights the lamp. During this time, they did not have light switches like we have today. The person lights up each lamp with a long stick with a fire end to it. They had to do this to each of the three points of a lamp before moving to the next lamp. Later, the Barron turns the lamp off by tapping the points with his hand with the help of a piece of cloth in order not to get burned. The Baron turned the light of so he could have privacy with his new lover. At the end of the opera, the princess’s servant comes in to find her cloth. He/she does this by holding a candle in front of him/her much like a flashlight. I believe that the person controlling the light of the opera imitated the light of the candle by tracking it.

This Opera would be fun to turn into a modern game. I would have the game made in the Unreal engine. I would have the environment created in the Autodesk Maya program. The game assets would be made in either Blender or Maya. I would hire German voice actors to play the parts of the characters. In exchange, there would be an option to turn on English subtitles. Unlike the original opera, there will be no singing in the game except for birds in the forest area. I will divide the game up into four chapters.

The game’s main playable character will be the Count with Sophia and the princess as the main characters. The Barron will be a supporting character member along with Sophia’s father. The citizens of the town will be just npc characters that will help the Count with his quest. The Count will have combat skills, Stealth skills, a hunger bar, and a love meter with a symbol of Sophia and the Princess. The more you talk with Sophia or the Princess by person or by snail mail, the more the love meter rises with that person. This will affect the end of the game. The one with the highest love meter level is the one that you make your forever lover.

Let’s talk about the levels. In Chapter 0 the player plays as the Baron traveling to Sophia’s house at night. This is the tutorial level in which trains you how to fight with a sword using the “CTRL” key to attack. The arrow keys move the character around. The Barons must fight the creatures of the forest who try to get into the carriage. Use the “SPACE” key to command the horse to jump. Use the “SHIFT” key to command the horse to go faster. Unfortunately, the player has to pay attention to how tired or hungry the horse is. This is shown by a hunger and exhaustion bar at the bottom of the screen.

In Chapters 1 on, you play as the Count. In Chapter 1 the players must hide two times in the Princess’s room. There will be a time limit for each which is shown on top of the screen. The player has a choice as where to hide the first time. The second time the only thing the player can do is to put on the maid outfit like in the original opera. If you are caught, it is game over.

In Chapter 2 you must travel by carriage to Sophia’s house to deliver the Silver Rose. This part plays out like Chapter 0 but the Count has a more powerful sword than the Barron. Next, you must fight Sophia’s Father and the Barron to save her from the arrange marriage. Before that you must fight the citizens of the town that try to apprehend you. Both Sophia’s father and the Barron will have a health bar on them. They are the chapter’s final bosses. Fight them with your sword until they reach 0%. They won’t die but they will give up fighting you. The weak Barron will be injured until the end of Chapter 4.

In Chapter 4 you must direct everyone to hide. In the forced romance scene, you can choose different dialogue options to heighten the Barron’s love for you. The Barron will have a love meter shown on the side of the screen. The higher the meter is the more chance that he will suspect you. If the love meter gets below 0% you get caught and it is game over. If you successfully woo him, you can give him to the morality police. From there the game chooses which girl to be your forever lover based on the levels of the love meter on each game.

In the last scene, you will see your character get married in an olden church. The whole town comes. You are congratulated by the Empress for your efforts to bring down the Barron. The Barron is sent to jail and is banned from the kingdom. Your character will get a nasty letter from the Barron blaming you for his misfortune. The game ends and goes to the menu. From there, you can view and play a chapter again. There is a button that will direct you a biography of each of the characters you met along your adventures.

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Works Cited

Foerster, Friedrich W. "Germany and Austria: A European Crisis." Foreign Affairs 9.4 (1931): pp. 617-623. 23 9 2017. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/20030390>.

Germany-from-1871-to-1918#ref297552. Ed. inc. Encyclopædia Britannica. 25 9 2017. 25 9 2017. <https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany/Germany-from-1871-to-1918#ref297552>.

Google Maps. n.d. 26 09 2017. <https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Germany/Vienna,+Austria/@49.384041,12.3525208,7z/data=!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x479a721ec2b1be6b:0x75e85d6b8e91e55b!2m2!1d10.451526!2d51.165691!1m5!1m1!1s0x476d079e5136ca9f:0xfdc2e58a51a25b46!2m2!1d16.3738189!2d48.2081743>.

Loewenstein, Karl. "Monarchy Gains Lost Ground in Europe." Social Science Vol. 11 (1936): 202-215. 23 09 2017. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/41882889>.

opera_intro. n.d. 26 9 2017. <https://www.naxos.com/education/opera_intro.asp>.

playlist?list=PLCFABA7AF2136992A. n.d. <https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCFABA7AF2136992A>.

roses/colors. n.d. 26 09 2017. <http://www.rkdn.org/roses/colors.asp>.

   

Analyze for Madame Butterfly

     The ten-minute animation is best look at as a short to the point animated preview of the original “Madame Butterfly” opera written by Giacomo Puccini. The animation was made by Pjotr Sapegin. From what we can see a Japanese Geisha falls in love with a blond man in uniform. They conceived a child together and the man goes away for a brief time during the animation. She gives birth to a daughter which is first represented by a fish before it transforms into a small girl. Time pasts and the man comes back with a new wife. The man forcibly takes the child away leaving a distraught woman. The woman transforms into a skeleton as she descends into madness before transforming into the butterfly seen in the first shot of the animation.

            I was a bit confused about what the fish baby might have represented. I remember from my medieval arts studies that a fish represents Christianity. It so happens that the man’s religion in the original opera was Christianity, though one might not realize it if they did not watch the opera. The umbilical cord represents the connection between mother and child. When the man yanks the umbilical cord, it breaks the connection between the two. It can also represent that the geisha disconnection from her family, religion, and past life. I loved the fact that at the end the man and his new wife rode up with children of different. I wondered how many times he has done this before stopping on the Geisha. How many families did he displaced with his sexual fantasies?

            A main part of the symbolism of the animation and the original opera is the butterfly. The geisha’s name is Madame Butterfly. According to, Animal Motifs in Asian Art by Katherine Ball, the butterfly is thought of someone’s “immortal soul on account of the metamorphosis from a caterpillar.” (XXXIV. The Bat And The Butterfly)Which could mean the rebirth of the young geisha at the end of the animation. In the start and end of the animation, the butterfly is seen on top of the Geisha’s head. This completes the circle of her life. You can see the metamorphose when she strips her skin and body parts to an endoskeleton in the animation. The cocoon of the caterpillar is representative of the endoskeleton. The endoskeleton turns into the butterfly. I feel that this is more visually pleasing than what really happen in the opera. In the opera, Madame butterfly kills herself with a sword after the man left and the new wife forced Madam Butterfly to give them her only child.

The confusing part of Madame Butterfly is that her real name is Cio-Cio-San. I researched the meaning of her name in Japan. Cio-Cio is short for chouchou(蝶) meaning butterfly in Japanese. (image-of-japanese-kanji-for-butterfly-710). San is an honorific that equates to Ms. Miss. or Mr. She was probably named Cio-Cio to make it easier for Italian opera actors to pronounce as it looks like an Italian phase.

The hill that the geisha stands on during the animation stands for the house that the couple lived in. In the opera, the couple lives on a hill in Nagasaki, Japan. The music box breaking occasionally, represents the love the man had for her was breaking within a period. The song that plays is the same song that Madame Butterfly sings in the original opera. It could be representative of her not being sure if he is coming back or not. The breaking of the music box could also represent the warnings of Madame Butterfly’s maid gave to her regarding the man’s intentions.

            I want to note that it took a few hours before I started writing. I needed to view cute animal videos to combat the immense sadness I felt after watching the animation and the original opera story. I watched the 1995 movie version that was directed by Frédéric Mitterrand and stared Ying Huang and Richard Troxell.   I was trying to find some redeeming factor for the man. I only got two—he served his country and he felt some remorse---the former being seen in the animation. I honestly don’t think he had remorse. In the original opera, he goes on about being able to get out on the marriage and the housing contract that was supposed to last 999 years. He did not think to divorce the woman before taking in another wife. Also, he did not have the confidence to tell the Geisha himself that he was leaving her. The man ran away and his new wife orders the Geisha’s maid to tell her what happen. I wondered how or if his new wife was okay with this.

            I felt sympathy to the Geisha. In the animation, it did not give any sign of age of them. So, it just seems like a regular case of a guy having an affair while married or in a relationship. The original opera tells us that the Geisha was only fifteen years old. That’s right, she was only fifteen years old at the start of the opera-roughly four years older than Romeo and Juliet. I point this out because while Romeo and Juliet was about the same age as each other, the geisha was a bunch of years younger than the man. I reference the play because both couples fall in love and marry immediately after they see each for the first time, and both happen in death. The man must be 18 or older considering he is in some sort of marine service. Also, it seems that his marriage is an arrange marriage situation. He literally picks a girl from a photobook and pays lots of money to marry said girl without even getting to know her. He is just fascinated with Japanese women. I think that is just the extent to why he wanted to marry the Geisha. He tells his friend that he wishes to marry a real American woman.

            Since she was only 15 years old, she was extremely naïve. She believed that the love she had would stay forever. She converted to the man’s religion and broke contact with her family. This caused her entire family to dishonor her. The only think she has is the husband that betrays her and leaves her with a son. It is extremely heartbreaking to watch her maid warn her of this betrayal when the geisha ignores the warning trusting that he would return.

            If I was this man I would not have treated his wife like this. I would have come back and allowed her to come to America with me. I would have her a better life than the one that she had. Also, I would have continued to pay the mortgage while I was away. I would have never remarried. I understand the culture differences in the earlier 1900’s might have been different than the culture we have now. I would not have made her hopes high. I would allow her to keep her religion and family. 

Works Cited

image-of-japanese-kanji-for-butterfly-710. n.d. 17 09 2017. <http://www.japanesewordswriting.com/image-of-japanese-kanji-for-butterfly-710/>.

"XXXIV. The Bat And The Butterfly." Ball, Katherine M. Animal Motifs in Asian Art: An illustrated Guide to Their Meanings and Aesthetics. Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc, 2004. 398-409.