Capriccio is an opera about opera as an art form. With wise gaiety and a profound understanding of theatre as a genre, it shows a music drama coming into being.

Ensconced in a Rococo château, the poet Olivier, the composer Flamand and the Countess Madeleine discuss not only their own amorous relations, but also the question – of far greater import for the history of opera – of which is more important to opera: the music or the words? The rivalry between poet and composer escalates and the Countess’s inability to choose between her suitors becomes a metaphor for an insoluble problem. Capriccio is at once a true theatre of types, a tender declaration of undying love, intelligent discursive entertainment and elegant studio drama. What Strauss himself called a “Conversation Piece with Music” was to be his swan song as an opera composer: the supremely refined final act of a highly sophisticated life’s work.

"Capriccio" by Richard Strauss