Strauss: Elektra (1980)
It's hard to imagine confirmed Straussians not wanting this starry Metropolitan Opera performance of Elektra. Strauss and his librettist, Hugo von Hofmannstahl, transformed Sophocles' take on Homer's tale into a harrowing opera noir. Elektra lives for one reason, to kill her mother, Klytämnestra, and her stepfather, Aegisth, the murderers of her father, Agamemnon. In contrast to Elektra's vengeful obsession, her sister Chrysothemis desires to get on with life. When their long-missing brother, Orestes, returns to do the deed, Elektra celebrates with a dance of death and, her sole purpose in life fulfilled, dies. Strauss joined the hermetic plot to music of the utmost opulence, violent and yearning by turns, evoking the cardinal principles of Greek tragedy - pity and terror.
Directors: David Stivender, Herbert Graf.
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Mignon Dunn as Clitemnestra |
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Birgit Nilsson as Elektra |
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Leonie Rysanek as Crisotemis |
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Robert Nagy as Egisto |
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Donald McIntyre as Orestes |
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John Cheek as Tutor de Orestes |
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James Levine as Conductor |
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MET Orchestra as |
| Directing | David Stivender | Director |
| Sound | Richard Strauss | Music |
| Directing | Herbert Graf | Director |
| Writing | Hugo von Hofmannstahl | Writer |
