Product Details

• Actors: Kiri Te Kanawa, Aage Haugland, Anne Howells, Barbara Bonney, Jonathan Summers
• Directors: Brian Large
• Writers: Hugo von Hofmannsthal
• Format: Classical, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Subtitles: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 2
• Studio: Kultur Video
• VHS Release Date: April 27, 1999
• Run Time: 198 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0769720293
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #279,588 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This Rosenkavalier is a nearly perfect combination of music, singers, staging, and conducting. It examines the whole spectrum of love from every perspective: youthful idealism, consenting adultery, predatory lechery, and autumnal regrets. Richard Strauss's music is exquisite; the emotional climate includes tenderness, sophistication, and sentimentality, with a healthy dose of near-slapstick. This is a treatment to live with on a desert island.

Kiri Te Kanawa garners most of the acclaim in what is probably her best role, but the entire cast is superbly chosen and works together in fine-tuned ensemble--not only the impulsive Octavian of Anne Howells, Barbara Bonney's sweet, timid Sophie, and Aage Haugland's, boorish, pretentious Baron Ochs, but everyone, including servants, domestic spies, and the social-climbing Herr Faninal. The sets and costumes are sumptuous; the sound and video images well defined. Georg Solti conducts with a subtlety and lyric lilt not always found in his work. --Joe McLellan

Product Description

This opulent production by Oscar-winning film director John Schlesinger marked the 25th anniversary of Sir George Solti's spectacular debut at Covent Garden conducting Der Rosenkavalier - an appearance that within months secured him a ten-year Music Directorship of Covent Garden. It also features Kiri Ti Kanawa's first performance in London of the role of Marschallin. Anne Howells gives a most sensitive performance as the 'Knight of the Rose'; Aage Huagland is the roguish Baron Ochs and the American soprano Barbara Bonney is "... an enchanting vulnerable Sophie, as lovely to hear...as she is to behold."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Te Kanawa is a goddess !, May 2, 2001

By 

Alejandra Vernon "artist & illustrator" (Long Beach, California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Richard Stauss - Der Rosenkavalier - The Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Kiri Te Kanawa thrilled and delighted me with her singing, and made me weep with her sensitivity as an actress...she's also an exquisitely graceful and beautiful woman, making this aesthetically in every way a perfect performance, and a treasure for any opera lover. The last few moments of act one (the end of tape # 1), are incredibly moving, and will stay with me forever.

Anne Howells is also superb as Octavian. Her body language as a young man is flawless and vocally she's excellent as well. Every member of this cast shines, held together with mastery by the wonderful Georg Solti.

The sets and costumes of this Covent Garden production are spectacular (the Marschallin's dress in the last act is breathtaking !), the direction flows, the editing expert, the comedy good, the drama great.

The scene between the Marschallin, Octavian, and Sophie is mesmerizing. The beauty and emotional power of it overwhelmed me, and once again, I was moved to tears.

This is simply one of the best filmed operas in existence...nothing short of magnificent, a rare jewel.

43 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally Ravishing!!, November 21, 2004

By 

John G. Gleeson Sr. (Frederic, Mi USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier -The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (DVD)

I tend to spend most of my opera viewing time in the Italian and French repertoire, but have always enjoyed the ravishing music of Rosenkavalier in excerpts which include "the presentation of the rose" and the final trio. If more lovely music has ever been penned, I haven't heard it, but listening to all of it was a bit tedious, to tell the truth.

But seeing it, and thus enjoying it as musical theatre? Not until I got this disc.It converted me completely. This is simply a wonderful experience, which I cannot praise too highly.

Dame Kiri is definitive as the Marschallin: her vocal production is literally amazing, and , yes, I have heard her sing a lot! She floats some pianissimo tones that bring tears to the eyes! She also acts well: the first act soliloquy, where she ponders on the effects of age is splendid.

Anne Howells is vocally excellent as Octavian, with acting second only to that of Federica von Stade, who always does well in those "trousers roles"

Barbara Bonny has the ideal voice for Sophie, and uses it with splendid artistry. Aage Haugland is perfect as the incredibly gross Baron Ochs, and the supporting cast all do very well. Solti conducts definitive Strauss.

This DVD was made from a taping of a 1985 performance from the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, so the audio and video are not quite state of the art. Subtitles make following the German easy.

But it is the totality of the performance as musical theatre that I found so captivating; this performance just "works" from beginning to end. All of the elements that make up a great operatic performance come together from beginning to end.

I cannot say enough good things about this disc. The decision to buy it is a "no brainer"!

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully acted, sung performance, January 22, 2005

By 

Ivy Lin (NY NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier -The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (DVD)

Der Rosenkavalier remains one of the most popular operas, despite being extremely long (all stage productions cut to some degree, and even then it's 3 hours or more of music) and a storyline that upon examination is a trifle thin. Strauss's opera also places exceptional demands upon the singers -- they must sing beautifully, act the part, and convey both humor and feeling. This 1985 performance from Covent Garden succeeds on all requirements: the cast is uniformly strong, the production is beautiful and elegant, and I shed a tear or two at the final trio.
Anne Howells is the Oktavian, a 17-year old count in love involved in a May-December affair with the Feldmarschallin. Howells is perhaps the least well-known of all the principals in this video, but Oktavian is onstage for practically the entire opera, and I think Howells is superb. I love the gusto with which he/she challenges the lecherous Ochs in Act 2, and her game turn as a "chambermaid" in Act 3. The only drawback I'd mention is that her voice is a bit thin and reedy, and lacks that last touch of vocal glamour. But if her voice is not as silvery and bright as the most legendary Oktavians (Sena Jurinac for example) Howells still convinces as an ardent young man. As the naive Sophie, Barbara Bonney is near-perfect. She looks girlish and young, and has the kind of bright lyric soprano that works so well for this role. She also avoids overly cute, precious acting. I love her reactions to the Baron when she first meets him.
Kiri te Kanawa is of course the Feldmarschallin, and hers was the real surprise of the video. I expected beautiful, elegant singing, but te Kanawa's portrayal was also dignified and heartfelt. At the end of Act 1 she buries her face in some flowers and whens he looks up there are real tears streaming down her face, and all of a sudden my preconceptions about te Kanawa were wiped away. Aage Haugland is hilarious as the dirty old "dowry hunter" Ochs, and he also wisely does not make Ochs truly hateful. He's not supposed to be -- in the end, his story is as sad as the Marschallin's. His screaming at being "wounded" in Act 2 and also his "wooing" of Sophie are priceless.
The two drawbacks: Georg Solti conducts with his typical bluster, all blaring horns and IMO little sense of the quick, breezy Viennese waltzes that permeate Strauss's score. Kultur's documentation is also poor -- it doesnt even say who the Italian singer is.