Rosenkavalier Suite - Ricard Strauss

Der Rosenkavalier' (The Knight of the Rose or The Rose-Bearer), Op. 59, is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel 'Les amours du chevalier de Faublas' by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière's comedy 'Monsieur de Pourceaugnac'. It was first performed at the 'Königliches Opernhaus' in Dresden on 26 January 1911 and the opera became immediate and profound popular. Strauss made his own arrangement of waltz sequences in 1934 and 1944; at the same time, other orchestral arrangements by various individuals emerged throughout the composer's lifetime. In fact, the best-known suite of music from the opera is an anonymous arrangement that Strauss eventually approved in 1945, and which is generally accepted. Dutch arranger Jos van de Braak now transcribed the 'Rosenkavalier Suite' for Symphonic Band.