Der Rosenkavalier

Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s sublime comedy set in a fairy-tale 18th-century Vienna is ideally served by an extraordinary cast: The elegant Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, heard here in her Met debut run, embodied the character of the Marschallin like no other singer. Lisa Della Casa (herself a celebrated Marschallin) is Octavian, her youthful lover, and the great Otto Edelmann sings Baron Ochs, the rustic nobleman whose plans of marrying a rich man’s daughter are foiled by a comic intrigue. Judith Raskin is the enchanting Sophie, and Thomas Schippers conducts one of Strauss’s best-loved scores.