Strauss, Richard

comprising a draft of the complete work, bearing the title "Walzerpotpourri aus Rosencavalier", based on the waltzes in Acts 1 and 2, but also INCLUDING A PENCIL SKETCH FOR THE CELEBRATED TRIO 'HAB MIR'S GELOBT' in Act 3, some bars containing only the melodic or harmonic outlines, and with some indications of orchestration ("pizz", "arco", etc.), dated at the end: "Garmisch 26 Oktober [19]44", notated in black ink on six systems of two staves each, occasionally extended into the margin, including one large insertion of over one hundred bars on a separate bifolium, together with two smaller additions each marked "Einlage", and some further sketches and annotations in pencil, and with a note of dedication on the first page written in blue ink ("Dr Ernst Roth, dem treuen Helfer und mutigem Veranstalter des Londoner Strauss-Festivals dankbar ergeben, RIchard Strauss 1.11.47"),

13 pages, folio (c.35.5 x 27cms), on 12-stave manuscript paper with the stamp ("B. & H. Nr. 4. C." and "...Nr.3 (16z)"), Garmisch, 26 October [19]44, the first page faintly browned

 E. H. Mueller von Asow, Richard Strauss, Thematisches Verzeichnis, iii, (Munich, 1974), p. 1309, as WoO. 139; F. Trenner, Richard Strauss, Werkverzeichnis, (Vienna, Dr R. Strauss GmbH, 2009), p.226, no. 227c.

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THIS MANUSCRIPT CONTAINS A REWORKING OF MANY OF THE MOST FAMOUS PASSAGES FROM "DER ROSENKAVALIER".  This is one of only two such concert arrangements by Strauss himself, and the only one of which he wrote a complete autograph manuscript. 

Der Rosenkavalier has always been Strauss's most famous opera.  There were many compilations made from it by Joseph Doebber and Otto Singer among others: see Norman del Mar, Richard Strauss. A Critical Commentary on his Life and Works, volume 1 (1962), p. 417.   Strauss claimed, in a letter of 29 October 1944 to Clemens Krauss, to have written the present Waltz-sequence, drawing on Acts 1 and 2, in order to supersede the arrangements by Singer in particular, as this had wide currency and its crude transitions had offended him for years (". . .Zuletzt habe ich jetzt eine neue Bearbeitung des Rosenkavalierwalzers zusammengestellt, da mich die schlechte Singerische Arbeit mit seinen scheusslichen Übergängen schon lange ärgert. . .").  It was first performed in London on 4 August 1946, under Erich Leinsdorf.

The present manuscript comprises Strauss's original draft covering ten pages, together with later additions; at first it is a continuity draft, but increasingly fully notated towards the end, including clear references to orchestration. This first version begins with an Introduction devised from the Introduction to the opera in E major, leading to a section entitled "Walzer" featuring well-known waltzes from the end of Act 2. Strauss subsequently added, near to the conclusion of his "Walzerpotpourri" a large section based on the waltz associated with Baron von Ochs (from Act One, Figure "143"), comprising one hundred and eighteen bars. This addition corresponds to the passage printed in the Boosey and Hawkes edition of Der Rosenkavalier. Erste Walzerfolge, London 1946 (plate number 9112) between Figures "25" and "34". In this manuscript it stands on a separate bifolium, with revisions to two transitions marked "Einlage" both to be inserted shortly afterwards (leading up to Figures "35" and "37" respectively).

There are also some pencil sketches incorporating ideas that were not included in the Erste Walzerfolge played today. These appear on the last page of the original final dated bifolium. The first is particularly interesting as it uses the melody from the Final Trio in Act 3 ('Hab' mir's gelobt'), arranged for flute, which the composer attempted to continue as an accompaniment to the Waltz Sequence.  Although not part of Strauss's final version, the theme had figured in Doebber and Singer's various concoctions, which Strauss claimed he wished to put out of circulation, and also in the so-called Rosenkavalier suite. Other pencil revisions of transitions later adopted are also present.

This is complete manuscript by Strauss.  Of the other sequence (Zweite Walzerfolge), drawing on Act 3 (1911), there is only a "Collage" put together by Strauss himself, consisting of autograph and printed elements, including manuscript additions in another hand on a printed full score (Bavarian State Library, Mus. ms. 21391).