`Der Rosenkavalier'
SIR,—I was interested by Charles Reid's comments on the end of Act 1 in Covent Garden's new Rosenkavalier. I attended the dress rehearsal (at which Sena Jurinac put her hand to her neck), missed the opening night (the 'noisy sigh') but went to the second public performance when Jurinac appeared —from my amphitheatre seat—to wipe away a tear. Obviously she is still experimenting with this scena, either independently or with Visconti's co-operation.
Let me assure Mr Reid that Visconti is not the first producer of the 'sixties to get the Marschallin away from her dressing-table and the close scrutiny of her more or less raddled features. The most moving Rosenkavalier I have seen was Hartmann's 1961 Salzburg staging when Schwarzkopf took up a hand-mirror, proceeded to the front of the stage, looked at her stunningly beautiful self in it and then stood completely still, the mirror against her breast, gazing into the middle distance with an expression of infinite sadness.
18 Walton Street, Oxford JAMES MORWOOD
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