Rosenkavalier Flutes Suite (2 flutes and piano)

"The Knight of the Rose", the fifth of Richard Strauss's fifteen operas, was performed for the first time in 1911 at the Dresden Semperoper. Composed after "Elektra", this "comedy in music" is the first of a lengthy partnership with the dramatist Hugo von Hofmannsthal.

With an emphasis on anarchism through the abondante use of the Viennese waltz, the work is infused with Mozartian classicism and sets the action in Vienna under the reign of Maria Theresa of Austria. So, how can the Marshal and her young lover Octavian's relationship not be compared to that of the Countess and Cherubino, two important figures in "The Marriage of Figaro"?

This piece with a "expanded" tonality has the qualities that allow a fantasy for two flutes and piano to arise, despite the Bavarian composer's language being complicated. The two virtuoso flutes' lightness brilliantly captures the atmosphere of the farce, another hint from Strauss to Verdi's "Falstaff", and the wealth of parallel high voices in the waltzes.

"The Rosenkavalier Flutes Suite" (2016), the first in a serie of eleven fantasies dedicated to the flute, realistically takes us back to this summit of German post-romantic opera, using in turn the theme from "The Silver Rose", the final duet (Sophie / Octavian), Octavian's waltz and that of Baron Ochs, a clear reference to the "Dynamiden" waltz by Josef Strauss, without forgetting the famous "Kadenz des Flötisten"... quite a symbol!

Port-Sainte-Foy-et-Ponchapt, August 2025

Laëtitia Brault & Jean-Christophe Maltot