| Operas by Richard Strauss |
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Guntram (1894) |
- See Mourning Becomes Electra for a reference to the 1967 opera, based on the 1931 Eugene O'Neill play. Richard Georg Strauss (11 June 1864 &ndash 8 September 1949 was a German Composer of the late Romantic era and early modern era particularly noted Guntram (Op 25 is an Opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with a German libretto written by the composer Feuersnot ( The Need for Fire or Fire Famine) is a Singgedicht (sung poem or Opera in one act by Richard Strauss, his Salome is an Opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German Libretto by the composer based on Hedwig Lachmann ’s German Der Rosenkavalier ( op 59 ( The Knight of the Rose) is a comic Opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original Ariadne auf Naxos ( Ariadne on Naxos) is an Opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Die Frau ohne Schatten ( The Woman without a Shadow) is an Opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with a Libretto by his Intermezzo is an Opera in two acts by Richard Strauss to his own German libretto described as a Bürgerliche Komödie mit sinfonischen Die ägyptische Helena ( The Egyptian Helen) is an Opera in two acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal Arabella is a lyric comedy or Opera in 3 acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, their sixth and last Die schweigsame Frau ( The Silent Woman) is an Opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with Libretto by Stefan Zweig after Friedenstag ( Peace Day) is an Opera in one act by Richard Strauss, his Opus 81 to a German libretto by Joseph Gregor. Daphne is an Opera in one act by Richard Strauss, his 13th opera subtitled "A Bucolic Tragedy in One Act" Die Liebe der Danae ( The Love of Danae) is an Opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by Joseph Gregor Capriccio is the final Opera by German composer Richard Strauss, subtitled "A Conversation Piece for Music" Mourning Becomes Electra is the title for a trilogy of plays by Eugene O'Neill, first performed in 1931 Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16 1888–November 27 1953 was a Nobel -prize winning American playwright
Elektra is a one-act opera by Richard Strauss, to a German-language libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal adapted from his drama of 1903—the first of many such collaborations between composer and librettist. Opera is an art form in which Singers and Musicians perform a Dramatic work (called an opera which combines a text (called a Libretto Richard Georg Strauss (11 June 1864 &ndash 8 September 1949 was a German Composer of the late Romantic era and early modern era particularly noted Hugo von Hofmannsthal ( February 1, 1874 – July 15, 1929) was an Austrian Novelist, librettist, Poet Year 1903 ( MCMIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar or a Common year starting It was first performed at the Dresden State Opera on January 25, 1909, and remains a part of the standard operatic repertoire. The Semperoper is the Opera house of the Saxon State Opera Dresden (German Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden) and the Concert hall of the Sächsische Events 41 - After a night of negotiation Claudius is accepted as Roman Emperor by the Senate Year 1909 ( MCMIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting
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Roles
| Premiere, January 25, 1909 (Conductor: Ernst von Schuch) |
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| Elektra (Electra), Agamemnon's daughter | soprano | Anny Krull |
| Chrysothemis, her sister | soprano | Margarethe Siems |
| Klytemnästra (Clytemnestra), their mother, Agamemnon's widow | contralto or mezzo-soprano | Ernestine Schumann-Heink |
| Her confidante | soprano | Gertrud Sachse |
| Her trainbearer | soprano | Elisabeth Boehm |
| A young servant | tenor | Fritz Soot |
| An old servant | bass | Franz Nebuschka |
| Orest (Orestes), son of Agamemnon | baritone | Karl Perron |
| Orest's tutor | bass | Julius Puttlitz |
| Aegisth (Aegistheus), Klytemnästra's paramour | tenor | Johannes Sembach |
| An overseer | soprano | Riza Eibenschütz |
| First maid | contralto | Franziska Bender-Schäfer |
| Second maid | mezzo-soprano | Magdalene Seebe |
| Third maid | mezzo-soprano | Irma Tervani |
| Fourth maid | soprano | Anna Zoder |
| Fifth maid | soprano | Minnie Nast |
| Men and women of the household | ||
Synopsis
The plot of Elektra is based upon the great Greek tragedy of the same name by the tragedian Sophocles. Ernst Edler von Schuch, born Ernst Gottfried Schuch ( 23 November 1846, Graz &ndash 10 May 1914, Niederlößnitz/ Radebeul In Greek mythology, Electra ( Greek:Ηλέκτρα was an Argosian princess and daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (very resolute / ( ancient Greek:) is a hero, the son of King Atreus of Mycenae This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. In Botany, Chrysothemis is a genus in the family Gesneriaceae. Clytemnestra (or Clytaemnestra (Eng /klaɪtəm'nɛstɹə/ Greek: Klytaimnéstra, "famed for her suitors" was the wife of Agamemnon, king This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. Ernestine Schumann-Heink ( 15 June, 1861 - 17 November, 1936) was a celebrated Operatic Contralto, noted for the beauty The tenor is the highest male voice within the Modal register, just above the Baritone voice In Greek mythology, Orestes (in English /ɔ'ɹɛstiːz/ and in Greek,) was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. In Greek mythology, Aegisthus ( Ancient Greek:, " goat strength " &mdash also transliterated as Aegisthos This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type. Electra or Elektra (Ηλέκτρα / Ēlektra) is a Greek tragic play by Sophocles. Sophocles (ˈsɒfəkliːz Ancient Greek, sopʰoklɛ̂ːs circa The unrelenting gloom and horror that permeate the original play produce, in the hands of Hofmannsthal and Strauss, a drama whose sole theme is revenge. Klytemnästra (Clytemnestra), helped by her paramour Aegisth (Aegistheus), has secured the murder of her husband, Agamemnon, and now is afraid that her guilt will be discovered by her children, Elektra (Electra), Chrysothemis, and their banished brother Orest (Orestes). Clytemnestra (or Clytaemnestra (Eng /klaɪtəm'nɛstɹə/ Greek: Klytaimnéstra, "famed for her suitors" was the wife of Agamemnon, king In Greek mythology, Aegisthus ( Ancient Greek:, " goat strength " &mdash also transliterated as Aegisthos In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (very resolute / ( ancient Greek:) is a hero, the son of King Atreus of Mycenae In Greek mythology, Electra ( Greek:Ηλέκτρα was an Argosian princess and daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra In Botany, Chrysothemis is a genus in the family Gesneriaceae. In Greek mythology, Orestes (in English /ɔ'ɹɛstiːz/ and in Greek,) was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon Elektra, who is the personification of the passionate lust for vengeance, tries to persuade her timid sister to kill Klytemnästra and Aegisth. Before the plan is carried out, Orest, who had been reported as dead, arrives and, upon being told the truth by Elektra, determines upon revenge for his father's death. He kills Klytemnästra and Aegisth; Elektra, in an ecstatic dance of triumph, falls dead in front of her horror-stricken attendants.
Style and instrumentation
Musically, Elektra deploys dissonance, chromaticism and extremely fluid tonality in a way which recalls but moves beyond the same composer's Salome of 1905, and which represents Strauss's furthest advances in modernism, from which he later retreated. The chromatic scale is a Musical scale with twelve pitches each a Semitone or Half step apart Tonality is a system of Music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center" or tonic. Salome is an Opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German Libretto by the composer based on Hedwig Lachmann ’s German Year 1905 ( MCMV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Modernism in music is characterized by a desire for or belief in progress and Science, Surrealism, anti-romanticism Political Advocacy, general The bitonal or extended Elektra chord is a well known dissonance from the opera while harmonic parallelism is also prominent modernist technique[1]. The Elektra chord is a "complexly dissonant signature- chord " and motivic elaboration used by Composer Richard Strauss In Music harmonic parallelism, also known as harmonic planing or parallel voice leading, is the parallel movement of two or more lines or chords
To support the overwhelming emotional content of the opera, Strauss uses a very large and in some ways unusual orchestra, with the following instrumentation:
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Motives and chords
The characters in Elektra are famously characterized in the music through motives or chords including the Elektra chord. The Elektra chord is a "complexly dissonant signature- chord " and motivic elaboration used by Composer Richard Strauss Klytamnestra, in contrast to Agamemnon's clearly diatonic minor triad motif, is characterized by a bitonal six note collection most often represented as a pair of two minor chords a tritone apart, typically on B and F, rather than simultaneously[2].
Agamemnon is depicted through a triadic motive: 
Criticism
Despite the much admired "orchestral virtuosity" and "musical structure" Kramer criticizes the portrayal of Elektra, as with Salome, as misogynist, comparing it to the portrayal of women in Otto Weininger's Sex and Character[2]. Orchestration is the study or practice of writing Music for Orchestra (or more loosely for any Musical ensemble) or of adapting for orchestra music composed The term musical form refers to two related concepts the type of composition (for example a musical work can have the form of a Symphony, a Misogyny (mɪˈsɒdʒɪni is hatred (or contemptof women Misogyny is parallel to Misandry — the hatred of men Otto Weininger ( April 3, 1880 – October 4, 1903) was an Austrian Philosopher.
References
- ^ DeLone et al, eds. , Aspects of Twentieth-Century Music p. 333, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall ISBN 0-13-049346-5.
- ^ a b Lawrence Kramer, "Fin-de-siècle Fantasies: Elektra, Degeneration and Sexual Science", Cambridge Opera Journal, Vol. 5, No. 2,July 1993, pp. 141-165.
Sources
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