The Role of Orchestral Music in Stauss’ Der Rosenkavalier
During the overture, the mix of the orchestra seemed like it lacked a firm bass section, utilizing only a single tuba. At first, this threw me off— I had thought to myself, “Isn’t this supposed to be a MET Opera, one of the most refined in the world?” I was right. Upon hearing the interplay between the character’s voices and the orchestra, I had realized that would have been an all out dynamic brawl between the singing and instrumentation is intelligently avoided by the minimal bass section. Overall, the interplay between the two resulted in a beautiful aural landscape.
