Librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal finished the last of the six librettos he wrote for Richard Strauss in 1929 – the year of his death. The resultant opera, Arabella, did not appear until 1933. There are several reasons for this delay, but the biggest is likely the absence of Hofmannsthal to revise the libretto, as it is weak and in need of alterations. Strauss himself tried to tune it up, but Hofmannsthal’s absence is telling. The author’s presence would undoubtedly have led to an improved book.
The story is pretty silly. A younger daughter raised as a boy because the family can’t afford to marry her off. This is especially inapt when the character (Zdenko/Zdenka) is played by a very pregnant Louise Adler. The title character often decides to disappear at emotional moments that should require her to stay put. Her inopportune departures clumsily move the plot.
Still, the score is Strauss at his almost best. Arabella is not the masterpiece some critics proclaim it to be, but it’s better than virtually any of his contemporaries could do. Some of the music is lovely and quite moving. The first act has a lot of declamation, which can become a bit dreary after a while. It’s the weakest act of the three. But it also has the duet ‘Aber der richtige’ and Arabella’s final lines of the act, both of which are first-class Strauss.
Act 2 is the best of the three. The first meeting between Arabella and Mandryka is beautifully written and is quite moving. Act 3 effectively wraps up the story. Its music is skillfully constructed, but the opera ends without the emotional overdrive that Strauss would have produced in his younger days.
The decision to use Otto Schenk’s 1983 production was a wise one considering the high-tech popcorn the Met has been hurling at its audiences during the Gelb years, which I fear are about to end with both a bang and a whimper. The Met audience applauded both the Act 1 and Act 2 sets as the curtain rose – a telling response to the indifference (a kind descriptor) that has greeted most of the new productions in recent times. Another plus is that a currently active director would have turned Zdenka into a transgender multi-sexed teenager who ended up with Fiakermilli instead of Matteo.
But how was the performance? Really outstanding. Every performer, from star to walk-on, was first-rate. The title role was originally intended for Lise Davidsen. Why she dropped out is unknown to me. She’s still scheduled for Isolde in March. Her replacement Rachel Willis-Sørenson made her role debut in this revival. As far as I can tell this is the first time she has sung a Strauss opera.
She acted and sang the part with grace and conviction. Hr voice is not the most sensuous instrument, but her vocal production is clear and steady. She had all the many notes Strauss throws at his singers. She likely will add more Strauss roles to her repertoire. The only problem is that she was playing a nubile maiden with a body habitus close to that of an interior lineman. But her performance was so fine as to erase that image before it claimed a firm purchase on the viewer.
Polish bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny was outstanding as Mandryka. He’s Baron Ochs from Der Rosenkavalier with better manners and a nicer nature. Mandryka is a rich nobleman from the country new to the norms and customs of Vienna. Konieczny sang and acted with passion and intensity. His performance was the best of a cast of outstanding performers.
Louise Adler made her Met debut in this run of Arabella. We have to take her impersonation of a boy on operatic faith as, ignoring her pregnancy, she looked as feminine as a calico cat. She has a lovely lyric soprano that was very effective in the first act duet with Arabella. Her passionate lovemaking with Matteo (he thought he was in bed with Arabella) that took place between Acts 2 and 3 must have been so overwhelming that he failed to notice that she was half the size of her sister. It also made him decide to move his affections from the older sibling to the younger.
Mattero was sung by tenor Pavol Breslik who previously had only sung Mozart at the Met. He has a light tenor that was pushed to its limits, but not beyond. Strauss was not opera’s gift to tenors.
British bass Brindley Sherratt was outstanding as Arabella’s father who has gambled away the family’s money almost to the point of homelessness. His voice was fine and his acting was a lesson in operatic stage deportment.
His ditzy wife was well played by Karen Cargill. High soprano Julie Roset soared through the ionosphere as Fiakermilli (called Milli), the canary of the Coachman’s Ball which is the site of Act 2. As mentioned above, the entire cast was equal to all the demands that Strauss makes in his operas.
Australian conductor Nicholas Carter got a virtuos performance of Strauss’s intricately scored orchestral writing from the Met’s brilliant instrumentalists. Carter has previously conducted Brett Dean’s Hamlet and Britten’s Peter Grimes at the Met. He’s a musician on the rise and at only 40 years of age he’s got a long and very promising career ahead of him.
Video Director Gary Halvoson has not forsaken his endoscopes, but his closeups were not as distracting as they have often been in other HD telecasts.
If you’re a fan of Strauss operas, this performance of Arabella is as good as it can be. Well worth catching the rerun on Wednesday.
Arabella
Metropolitan Opera House, Saturday, November 22, 2025
Richard Strauss | Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Arabella……….Rachel Willis-Sørenson
Mandryka……….Tomasz Konieczny
Zdenka……….Louise Alder
Matteo……….Pavol Breslik
Adelaide……….Karen Cargill
Count Waldner……….Brindley Sherratt
Fortuneteller……….Eve Gigliotti
Count Elemer………..Evan LeRoy Johnson
Count Dominik………..Ricardo José Rivera
Count Lamoral……….Ben Brady
Fiakermilli………..Julie Roset
Welko……….Marc Persing
Djura……….Craig Montgomery
Jankel……….Timothy Breese Miller
Waiter……….Scott Scully
Card Player……….Tyler Simpson
Card Player……….Jonathan Scott
Card Player……….Earle Patriarco
Conductor……….Nicholas Carter
Video Director……….Gary Halvorson
Production……….Otto Schenk
Set Designer……….Günther Schneider-Siemssen
Costume Designer……….Milena Canonero
Lighting Designer……….Gil Wechsler
