Intermezzo (opera)

Intermezzo
Opera by Richard Strauss
The composer in 1922 (Photographer Schmutzer)
Librettist	Richard Strauss
Language	German
Premiere	4 November 1924 Semperoper, Dresden

Intermezzo, Op. 72, is an opera in two acts by Richard Strauss to his own German libretto, described as a Bürgerliche Komödie mit sinfonischen Zwischenspielen (bourgeois comedy with symphonic interludes). It premiered at the Dresden Semperoper on 4 November 1924, with sets that reproduced Strauss' home in Garmisch. The first Vienna performance was in January 1927.^[1]

The story depicts fictionally the personalities of Strauss himself (as "Robert Storch") and his wife Pauline (as "Christine")^[2] and was based on real incidents in their lives. Pauline Strauss was not aware of the opera's subject before the first performance. After Lotte Lehmann had congratulated Pauline on this "marvelous present to you from your husband", Pauline's reply was reported as "I don't give a damn".^[3] The most celebrated music from the opera is the orchestral interludes between scenes.

His usual librettist up to that time, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, refused to work on the opera and suggested that Strauss himself write the libretto, which he eventually did after having been refused by other writers. This is why the libretto is not in verse but in prose and even mimics the dialect used by the servants in the play, against the more polished German of the principals.

The opera's title is intended to refer to the intermezzi that used to be staged during the intermissions of serious operas during the 18th century, sort of mini-comic-operas, easy to follow with themes usually about marital confusions and other light comedies.

Performance history

The first professional staged US production was at The Santa Fe Opera in 1984, translated into English.^[4]

Roles

		Premiere, 4 November 1924 (Fritz Busch)
Christine Storch	soprano	Lotte Lehmann
Robert Storch, her husband, a conductor	baritone	Joseph Correck
Anna, their maid	soprano	Liesel v. Schuch
Franzl, their eight-year-old son	spoken
Baron Lummer	tenor	Theo Strack
The notary	baritone	Robert Büssel
His wife	soprano	Elfriede Haberkorn
Stroh, another conductor	tenor	Hanns Lange
A commercial counselor	baritone	Ludwig Ermold
A legal counsellor	baritone	Adolph Schoepflin
A singer	bass	Willy Bader
Fanny, the Storch's cook'	spoken	Anna Bolze
Marie and Therese, maids	spoken	Erna Frese
Resi, a young girl	soprano

Synopsis

Setting: Vienna and Grundlsee during a 1920’s winter

The composer Storch is leaving for a conducting tour, and his wife Christine helps him pack, arguing and nagging along the way. Seeking relief from loneliness she goes tobogganing and collides with a skier, a young Baron who befriends her. They dance together at a ball and she arranges for him to lodge in the house of her notary. The friendship is soured when the Baron asks Christine for financial assistance. She opens a letter, supposedly for her husband, from a lady arranging an assignation. She immediately telegrams Storch demanding they part for ever. In tears, she seeks solace in her son's bedroom but he defends his father.

Storch is playing skat with friends in Vienna when the telegram arrives, and is bewildered by the accusations. Stroh, a conductor friend, admits that he knows the lady and surmises that his and Storch's surnames must have been confused. Christine visits the notary to demand a divorce, but he is unwilling to pursue the matter. She sends the Baron to Vienna to gather evidence of infidelity. Packing to leave, she receives a telegram from her husband saying that Stroh will explain the misunderstanding. Even after Stroh's visit she is reluctant to accept the truth. Storch returns home, and an argument ensues. The Baron arrives with evidence that Stroh rather than Storch had indeed known the lady and Christine dismisses him, assured that her husband is blameless. Storch forgives her anger and teases her about her dalliance with the Baron. Husband and wife declare a renewed love.

Instrumentation

Strauss scored Intermezzo for the following orchestra:

• Woodwinds

2 Flutes (Flute 2 doubles Piccolo), 2 Oboes (Oboe 2 doubles English Horn), 2 Clarinets in B-Flat (Clarinet 2 doubles Bass Clarinet in A), 2 Bassoons (2nd bassoon must play low A in Act 2)

• Brass

3 Horns (in F, E, D, E-flat, and A), 2 Trumpets (in C), 2 Trombones

• Percussion

Timpani, Suspended Cymbals, Crash Cymbals, Snare Drum, Triangle, Bass Drum, 1 Pair of [sleigh] bells

• Keyboards

Piano, Harmonium

• Strings

Harp, Violins I (11), Violins II (9), Violas (5), Violoncelli (5), Contrabasses (3)

Recordings

Year	Cast: Christine Storch, Robert Storch, Anna, Baron Lummer	Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra	Label[5]
1963	Hanny Steffek, Hermann Prey, Gertrud Freedman, Ferry Gruber	Joseph Keilberth, Bavarian State Opera Orchestra and Chorus	VHS Video Cassette: Lyric Distribution (Legato) Cat: 1818; DVD Video: Legato Classics[6]
1980	Lucia Popp, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gabriele Fuchs, Adolf Dallapozza	Wolfgang Sawallisch, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra	Audio CD: EMI Classics Cat: 7 49337-2
1983	Felicity Lott, John Pringle, Elizabeth Gale, Ian Caley	Gustav Kuhn, London Philharmonic Orchestra	VHS / DVD? Video: Kultur Cat: CVI 2024
2014	Simone Schneider, Martina Welschbach, Peter Nice, Sophie Mitterhuber	Ulf Schirmer, Münchner Rundfunkorchester	Audio CD: Classic Produktion Osnabrück, Cat: 7779012

References

Notes

1. "Intermezzo". Time, 27 January 1927
2. Griffel, Margaret Ross, Review of Norman Del Mar's Richard Strauss: A Critical Commentary on His Life and Works. Volume 2: Notes (2nd ser.), 27(4), pp. 726-726 (1971)
3. Del Mar, p. 262
4. Bernard Holland, "Strauss' Intermezzo at Santa Fe Opera". The New York Times, 6 August 1984
5. Recordings of Intermezzo on operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
6. Beth Hart, Reviews of video releases of Intermezzo. The Opera Quarterly, 15(3), pp. 608-612 (1999)

Sources

• Del Mar, Norman, Richard Strauss: A Critical Commentary on His Life and Work, Vol. 2. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1986)
• Kennedy, Michael, in Holden, Amanda (ed.) (2001), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam. ISBN 0-14-029312-4

External resources

BBC Opera guide: Intermezzo