Richard Stauss, Die schweigsame Frau (1935)

While many of Strauss' operas are comfortably part of the repertoire and performed regularly, there are a few that, for whatever reason, just aren't. To my knowledge, there is no complete video of Die ägyptische Helena or Friedenstag, and the only one of Intermezzo is sung in English, which...not ideal. The hell, people? This one falls into the same category, but fortunately, some awesome person uploaded a 1971 performance from the Bavaria State Opera. It has English titles, so clearly it was originally broadcast in some Anglophone country or other, but where? Hard to say. There's an unreadable little logo in the top left that I don't recognize.

This has a libretto by Stefan Zweig: gutsy to have a Jewish writer do your libretto at that time. Strauss refused to let Zweig's name be removed, which contributed to the initial run being cancelled after only a few performances. Right on. Fuck all nazis always, and in the exact opposite of a fun way.

It's based on a 1609 comedy by Ben Johnson (though this one apparently takes place in 1760--how am I possibly meant to be able to detect the difference?). There's a retired naval captain, Sir John Morosus who hates noises after having survived an explosion at sea. His barber recommends that he marry a quiet young woman to look after him in his old age. But when his long-lost nephew Henry appears, he decides, screw that; I'll just make him my heir (I'm not clear why this is an either/or situation). But then Henry reveals that he's a singer and brings in his opera troupe, complete with Aminta, his soprano wife. This does not sit well with Morosus, who determines to disinherit his nephew and get married after all. But the troupe decides to play a trick on him, by making him think he's married one of them, who will then act super-loud and obnoxious until he regrets his actions and re-inherits Henry. This plan works well: the woman who pretends to marry him is Aminta herself (shouldn't he recognize her from when Henry introduced them?), who feels remorse at having to act like a shrieking harridan but does it anyway. At one point she practices singing an aria from L’incoronazione di Poppea, which is amusing. Anyway, Morosus is extremely relieved when he learns it was just a trick, his nephew is back in his good graces, and he decides that actually music is okay, he can tolerate it, although silence is still better.

This may immediately remind you of Donizetti's Don Pasquale. Well, a rich guy marrying or trying to marry a woman who isn't what she seems was definitely a classic comedy trope. Less so nowadays, since it's hard for us to see such a man as just a semi-sympathetic buffoon rather than a monster of some stripe. Accordingly, this feels very old-fashioned compared to...well, every other Strauss opera I've seen. And yet, it's still a lot of fun! Strauss' music gets "zany" in places in a way you don't usually see, and the whole thing, if predictable, is still compelling, and sometimes funny (though not as funny as Don Pasquale).

This youtube version naturally doesn't quite have the video quality you might hope for, but on the whole the quality is better than you'd expect for something (presumably) recorded off a TV broadcast close to fifty years ago. It features big names of the time, notably Kurt Moll in the title role. Definitely stealing the show, I'd say, is Reri Grist as Aminta. Very charming, and one of the first African American opera singers with an international career (I mean, so says wikipedia. It's not like I just knew that off the top of my head).

I suppose, really, you can see why this isn't as widely-performed as some; it really does play it safe in terms of both form and content. But when you're dealing with a genius like Strauss, that still results in a solid operatic experience, and I definitely recommend it.