Strauss: Elektra (1980)

Plot Summary

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.

Full Cast & Characters

Mignon Dunn

Clitemnestra

Birgit Nilsson

Elektra

Leonie Rysanek

Crisotemis

Robert Nagy

Egisto

Donald McIntyre

Orestes

John Cheek

Tutor de Orestes

James Levine

Conductor

MET Orchestra

Director & Crew

Where to Watch Strauss: Elektra Online

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