In January 2024, my partner Mika Eglinton and I translated the play Der Rosenkavalier by 19th century Austrian librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal, for a production at the Shizuoka Performing Arts Park in January 2024. The translation from Japanese to English was used as surtitles for the production directed by Miyagi Satoshi Terauchi Ayako, with music by Nemoto Takuya,

“Der Rosenkavalier” (The Knight of the Rose or The Rose-Bearer), Op. 59, is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss, with an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It was first performed at the Königliches Opernhaus in Dresden in early 1911.

The opera is loosely adapted from Louvet de Couvrai’s novel “Les amours du chevalier de Faublas” and Molière’s comedy “Monsieur de Pourceaugnac”. The story revolves around four main characters: the aristocratic Marschallin; her 17-year-old lover, Count Octavian Rofrano; her brutish cousin Baron Ochs; and Ochs’s prospective fiancée, Sophie von Faninal, the daughter of a rich banker.

At the Marschallin’s suggestion, Octavian acts as Ochs’s “Knight of the Rose,” a fictitious ceremonial rite in which the Knight presents a silver rose to the bride-to-be – in this case, Sophie. However, Octavian and Sophie fall in love on the spot, and they devise a comic intrigue to extricate Sophie from her engagement, with help from the Marschallin, who then yields Octavian to Sophie.

In addition to the comedy scenes, which consist mostly of mistaken identity tropes, “Der Rosenkavalier” incorporates some heavy themes, including infidelity, aging, sexual predation, and selflessness in love.

The opera is notable for showcasing the female voice, with its protagonists (light lyric soprano Sophie, mezzo-soprano Octavian, and the mature dramatic soprano Marschallin) all written to be portrayed by women.

Our translation from Japanese to English was based on a rearranged Japanese text that directors Miaygi Satoshi and Terauchi Ayako used for their non-operatic version at SPAC. The production was largely faithful to von Hofmannsthal’s libretto, with the exception of line cuts, and the addition of Japanese songs.