CHAPTER II

LAST SCENE FROM CAPRICCIO

Strauss's last opera, Capriccio IOertel, 19-12), wati completed in Garmisch on

August. 3, 1941, and subtitled "Ein KonversationnstUck lUI' Musik" ("A Conversation

Piece for Music"). The opera received its first performance at the National

Theater in Munich on Octobet' 28, 1942 under the direction of' Clemens Krauss. It

is based on the relationship of' words and music. The Last S('l'ne utilizes three

types of vocal style. These styles - aria-like, secco recitative and accompanied

recitative (not used in the traditional manner) - are not unique w Capriccio but

were used in two earlier operas. Concerning the first act of' Al'iadne and

Intermezzo, Strauss said,

It was the first act of Ariadne that I first used with full assurance, in
the alternation between ordinary prose, recitativl! secco, and recitative
accompagnalo, the voc<tl style which I have now in ]ntennezzo, carried
, Ioglca
to Its ' I coneI ' l'
USlon.

In the final scene, almost all 01' the text is prose, either in "I'l'l'italive secco" 01'

"accompagnato" style. The exceptiun to this is the sections in\,o!\'ing the Sonnet

which are ada-like in style.

Form and Tonal Relationships

Form

Formal stl'uctUl'e, Lonulities (including I'e/,.rions which un' cOl1luined within

parentheses), und dramatic action is shown in Table G.

lONorman DelMaI'. RichanJ Strauss: A Critical Comml·ntat·y on His Life and

Works, 3 vo/s., (Philadelphiu: Chilton Book Company, 19fW), vol. 2, p. :W 1.