Operа in the Silent Film: The Case of ‘Der Rosenkavalier’

Abstract

The article deals with the production history of the film “Der Rosenkavalier”, shot in 1925 by director Robert Wiene based on the popular opera of the same name by Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The peculiarity of the film was that by the time of filming the musical accompaniment for it already existed. Based on an opera score, it was prepared under the supervision of Strauss by composer Otto Singer and conductor Karl Alwin. The music of the opera was shortened and rearranged, supplemented by other works by Strauss (mainly marches intended for military scenes). The film had to adapt to the musical accompaniment, which played a leading role in this film production. The article examines the relationship between opera and film: transformations of the plot, rethinking of characters, changes in the musical score. The film is not an exact reproduction of the opera. Although its main plot motifs are preserved, they are transformed and enriched with new situations. The most noticeable change is the introduction of a new character, Marshall. The film makes extensive use of the possibilities of cinema to show a variety of locations, flashbacks, and outdoor crowd scenes. Both of the most complex characters, Marshall and Baron von Ochs, appear in the film as psychologically more ordinary. The spirit of well-behaved happy ending prevails at the end of the film, where three couples unite. For the film’s score, there is an obvious desire to preserve as much as possible the individual musical characteristics, as well as the most important tonal centers of the opera. Like an opera, a film score is united by leitmotifs, but in the film some of them take on a different meaning: the emphasis shifts from the presentation of character to the affect conveyed by the theme. The changed relationship between music and action in the frame sometimes leads to a rethinking of the characters’ behavior (Ochs). The restoration of a film that was considered lost in the 2000s makes it possible to evaluate it as a one-of-a-kind experiment from the era of early cinema.