RICHARD STR AUSS
ELEKTRA
CONTENTS
P.
4
SYNOPSIS P.
8
THE ELECTRA COMPLEX ERWIN RINGEL P.
10
IT WASN’T AS EASY AS THAT ANDREAS LÁNG P.
12
A REMINDER TO US ALL GERTRUD EYSOLDT
P.
16
RECOLLECTIONS AND REFLECTIONS RICHARD STRAUSS P.
20
RAGING DISSONANCES, CONFUSED AND ARCHAIC GRANDIOSITY ANDREAS LÁNG P.
27
MUSIC THAT COMES FROM SOMEONE FRANZ WELSER-MÖST P.
30
IMPRINT
RICHARD STR AUSS
ELEKTRA TRAGEDY in one act Libretto HUGO VON HOFMANNSTHAL Based on Electra by Sophocles (413 BC)
ORCHESTRA
piccolo / 3 flutes 2 oboes / cor anglais heckelphone / piccolo clarinet 4 clarinets / 2 basset horns bass clarinet / 3 bassoons contrabassoon / 4 horns 4 tubas / 6 trumpets bass trumpet / 4 trombones contrabass tuba / percussion celeste / 2 harps violin I / violin II viola / cello / double bass
AUTOGRAPH
Richard-Strauss-Archiv Garmisch-Partenkirchen WORLD PREMIÈRE 25 JANUARY 1909 Dresden Court Opera AUSTRIAN PREMIÈRE 24 MARCH 1909 Vienna Court Opera DURATION
1 H 45 MIN
NO INTERVAL
ELEKTRA
SYNOPSIS BACKGROUND Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, and his wife Klytämnestra have four children: Iphigenia, Elektra, Chrysothemis and Orestes. When the Greek fleet is ready to set sail for Troy, a calm keeps the ships in port. Agamemnon must sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to appease the goddess Artemis so that she will create favourable winds for his journey. Klytämnestra will never forgive her husband for this. During Agamemnon’s absence fighting for Troy, Klytämnestra enters into a relationship with Aegisth. When Agamemnon returns home, Klytämnestra and Aegisth feign a joyous welcome. They then murder the defenceless man with an axe as he sits in his bath. After her father is murdered, Elektra succeeds in bringing her young brother to safety. She herself nurses one thought: to avenge the murder.
PLOT Elektra has dissociated herself from society and above all from Aegisth and Klytämnestra; she lives in isolation, bound in her thoughts to Agamemnon. She unrelentingly nurtures her hate, counting on Orestes’ return to avenge the murder. The five maid servants, supervised by the overseer, comment on Elektra’s behaviour: spiteful, pretentious, fearful. Only the youngest maid servant stands up for Elektra and is chastened for doing so. Elektra invokes Agamemnon and goes into raptures over her bloody vision. Chrysothemis interrupts Elektra’s monologue and warns her sister: Aegisth and Klytämnestra are planning to incarcerate her in a tower. When Chrysothemis implies that she will come to terms with them in order to realize her desire to be a mother, Elektra scornfully puts her in her place.
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SYNOPSIS
Plagued by memories and anxiety dreams, the restless Klytämnestra tries to talk to Elektra, hoping to find out from her what blood sacrifice or rites would bring her relief. Elektra responds tantalizingly, enigmatically, cryptically, and frightens her mother with questions about Orestes. However, when Klytämnestra is brought news by her confidante, her dread gives way to an obvious sense of triumph. Elektra is annoyed, until she learns the news from Chrysothemis – their brother Orestes is dead. Elektra refuses to believe it, but must then give credence to the messenger’s report. She decides to wreak vengeance herself, and determines that Chrysothemis should help her. With tenderness and outward affection, Elektra tries to win her sister’s support for her plan to murder Klytämnestra and Aegisth. However, Chrysothemis evades her sister, who curses her. Now Elektra is resolved to perform the deed herself. A stranger arrives, passing himself off as a messenger who has come to tell Klytämnestra of the death of Orestes. Elektra’s despair moves him to ask her name. Only then does he reveal that he is her brother – Orestes! Elektra urges him to murder the couple to avenge his father, a deed Orestes pledges to carry out swiftly. Left alone, Elektra awaits further events… Klytämnestra’s death screams and the confusion of the maid servants assure her that revenge has in part been exacted. Aegisth, fetched by the servants, wants to hear the news of Orestes’ death himself. With flattering words, Elektra guides him to the place where she knows the avenger to be, who kills him shortly thereafter. Consumed with joy that revenge has been exacted, Elektra begins a last ecstatic dance…
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