Der Rosenkavalier is one of Strauss’ best known operas. Set in Vienna during the early years of the Empress Maria Theresa’s reign, the work takes the form of a comedy in 3 acts, set to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It bears a strong resemblance in terms of plot to Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and is written in a different vein to Strauss’s preceding avant-gardist creations, something the composer, appearing to have succumbed to popular taste, was heavily criticized for.