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30 July 2019

Der Rosenkavalier (1925)

French actors Huguette Duflos and Jaque Catelain, and German actors Paul Hartmann and Michael Bohnen played the leads in the Austrian silent film Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925), adapted from the comic opera by Richard Strauss with a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal.

Jaque Catelain
Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 824. Photo: Isabey, Paris. Jaque Catelain in Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925).

Jaque Catelain in Der Rosenkavalier (1925)
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 47/1. Photo: Bruckmann-Verleih / Robert Wiene-Produktion der Pan-Film A.-G., Vienna. Jaque Catelain and Elli Felicie Berger in Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925).

Jaque Catelain and Huguette Duflos in Der Rosenkavalier (1926)
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 47/2. Photo: Bruckmann-Verleih / Robert Wiene-Produktion der Pan-Film A.-G., Vienna. Huguette Duflos and Jaque Catelain in Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925).

Amorous twists and turns


The Austrian silent film Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (1925) was based on the opera of the same name by Richard Strauss (music) and Hugo von Hofmannsthal (libretto). Robert Wiene, creator of the expressionistic masterpiece Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari/The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), was the director.

Hugo von Hofmannsthal considerably changed the storyline of the opera for the film version of Der Rosenkavalier (1925). The film included for instance a final scene in the formal gardens behind the Field Marshal's residence.

The story is situated at the Austrian court. While the marshal of Werdenberg (Paul Hartmann) is becoming famous in the war, his wife, Countess Maria Theresia von Werdenberg (Huguette Duflos), consoles herself in the arms of the young Count Octavian (Jaque Catelain) and tries to arrange the love affairs of her nephew, Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau (Michael Bohnen), by presenting him to young Sophie (Ellie Felicie Berger).

This baron is taken with her and the 'Marschallin' proposes Octavian to be Ochs’ matchmaker (Rosenkavalier, the Knight of the Rose) in order to present the traditional silver rose to his fiancée. But when they meet, Octavian and Sophie immediately fall in love with each other...

Analogous to the opera’s three acts, the film’s narrative consists of three main units. These are interspersed with war scenes portraying the world as lived in by the Marshall, who does not appear in the opera. In the film, his character takes on an active role, resolving the amorous twists and turns at the end of the film which, in the opera, are left unresolved.

Filming began on 18 June 1925 at the famous Schloßtheater Schönbrunn in Vienn, which lasted until the end of August after several weather-related interruptions. Other locations were in Vienna, as well as outside, in Lower Austria. Indoor shots were shot in the film studio of Listo-Film. The numerous and elaborate rococo costumes were created by the Wiener Werkstätte für dekorierte Kunst Ges.m.b.H. and the wigs of Ludwig Rudolf.

The production fell temporally in the middle of the worst crisis of the Austrian silent cinema, which at this time endured heavy competition by the cheaply made but qualitative US productions. Numerous domestic production companies went bankrupt at that time. The Pan-Film was one of the few major companies that continued to make films.

Huguette Duflos and Jaque Catelain in Die Rosenkavalier
Vintage postcard. Huguette Duflos and Jaque Catelain in Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925).

Paul Hartmann in Der Rosenkavalier (1925)
German postcard by Ross B.V.G., Berlin. Photo: Verleih Filmhaus Bruckmann & Co., A.G. Paul Hartmann in Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925).

A formidable narrative power


Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1926) premiered on 10 January 1926 at the Dresden Semperoper (Semper Opera House), which had also hosted the actual opera's premiere 15 years earlier. Richard Strauss' score included music not only from the opera but also sections of his Couperin Suite and several marches and dances from Strauss’ repertoire. Strauss also composed new ones.

During the film's performances, the music was provided by an orchestra. At the premiere, this was conducted by Richard Strauss himself. The film's projection speed had to be adjusted by the projector in order to fit the speed of the orchestra. This task fell to the film's cameraman, Hans Androschin, because only he knew the exact length of each scene and cut.

In later performances, a special recording, also conducted by Strauss, provided the music. Richard Strauss conducted the Vienna and London premieres and recorded excerpts from the film score on the Victrola label at that time. A planned tour of the United States in 1927 by Strauss and his orchestra failed to go ahead because of the emergence of sound films.

Although Pan-film landed her greatest artistic success with this film, the company also went broke due to the enormous costs of this production. For a long time, the film and the accompanying score for large orchestra had not been performed due to synchronisation problems and the loss of the last reel.

After the restoration of the film in 2006 and the reconstruction of the missing final sequence of the film by the Filmarchiv Austria, Der Rosenkavalier was re-released for a television broadcast by German broadcaster ZDF and Arte on 6 September 2006 at the site of its premiere, the Semperoper in Dresden. The musical accompaniment was performed by the Saxon Staatskapelle Dresden, conducted by Frank Strobel.

Frank Strobel: "In Wiene’s film, which some consider to be too conventional, the cinematic imagery is just one element within the overall concept. The other is the music, whose interaction with the film is lending it a formidable narrative power. In the Rosenkavalier film, the typical approach to film music composition, whereby the music is written subsequent to the film and functionally adapted to it, is turned on its head: The film’s central element is the music played by the orchestra as opposed to the libretto. The music is served by the film along with its new episodes and is also consistently referred to by the choreography of the actors. This is not surprising since the film was shot after the music."

Jaque Catelain, Paul Hartmann and Ellie Felicie Berger in Der Rosenkavalier (1925)
German postcard by Ross B.V.G., Berlin. Photo: Verleih Filmhaus Bruckmann & Co., A.G. Jaque Catelain, Paul Hartmann and Ellie Felicie Berger in Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925).

Jaque Catelain, Michael Bohnen, Ellie Felicie Berger and Carl Forest in Der Rosenkavalier (1925)
German postcard by Ross B.V.G., Berlin. Photo: Verleih Filmhaus Bruckmann & Co., A.G. Michael BohnenJaque Catelain, Ellie Felicie Berger and Carl Forest in Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925).

Paul Hartmann and Huguette Duflos in De Rosenkavalier (1925)
German postcard by Ross B.V.G., Berlin. Photo: Verleih Filmhaus Bruckmann & Co., AG. Paul Hartmann and Huguette Duflos in Der Rosenkavalier/The Knight of the Rose (Robert Wiene, 1925).

Sources: Frank StrobelWikipedia and IMDb.

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