SANTA FE, NM—-The last of the great romantic-era operas, in all its opulence, is arguably Richard Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier,” launched just before that epic, revolutionary “Rite of Spring”—yet with a libertine plot people found offensive, right from the first scene showing a married woman lolling in bed with her lover.

A palatial opera so costly that most US troupes can never afford to mount it, it is riding high at the Santa Fe Opera Festival. It is produced to the max, with added characters and rafts of extras—so stunning that even stage hands wrestling with the massive scenery get rounds of applause.

Once again, the SFO achieves the impossible, despite the worsening finances of so many American opera companies. (Belt-tightening is due next year, the SFO roster featuring five popular operas that reliably sell piles of tickets.)

Despite the opulence, this opera is not quite the glorification of the old nobility. Look between the lines, you can see master librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal clearly critiquing the libertine lives of the rich and privileged; he glorified and satirized the palatial life in one fell swoop.

This is a landmark work linguistically too. At least four levels of German are featured, from the Marschallin’s high German to Viennnese to back-country to the mangled German of the scheming Valzacchi couple.

It’s a strong cast too. My problem is that, to fill the theater, singers must project full volume, beyond the bloom of their voices, bringing in a harshness like a raffish table wine that never becomes a premium wine.

What does come through is the fast-emerging New York conductor, who does wonders in the pit managing the enlarged orchestra for this production, with some of the players literally crammed under the stage. Her sensitivity impressed again and again, negotiating a monster four-hour score.

The dominant initial figure is the wealthy Marschallin (Rachel Willis-Sorensen), now a bit long in the years, with her lover of 17, Count Octavian. Thereafter the action is taking up by the boorish Baron Ochs (meaning “ox” in German), (Matthew Rose), crudely intent on bedding down every young woman of lesser station. After he is victimized by more pranks than a dozen Halloweens, Octavian charms and pries loose the fetching young Sophie (Ying Fang) from the oppressive Ochs.

As Ochs, Rose may lack a low note or two, but he plays the lecher Ochs like a master and sings with grandiose dimension.

Complicating the IDs are Octavian’s always being played in a trouser role, by a cross-dressing female mezzo (Paula Murrihy)—an odd formula resulting from Strauss’ great aversion to the pompous, posturing tenors of his day.

The SFO’s additions, apart from the rafts of footmen and waitresses, bring on a mute, cute Cupid figure with bow and arrow. All this is a challenge for Director Bruno Ravella, who manages the unwieldy aggregation like a general on a battlefield.

Dramatically the work was always a bit chancy, but the eloquence of Strauss and his irresistible score loaded with infectious waltzes has kept “Rosenkavalier” going on many stages well outside the German-speaking world.

STRAUSS’S OPERA “DER ROSENKAVALIER” (The Rose Cavalier), In German, with English supertitles, heard Aug. 8, running through Aug. 15; four hours. By Santa Fe Opera. For SFO info: (800) 280-4654, or online, www.santafeopera.org.

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