Richard Strauss (1864 - 1949)ELEKTRA
From Aix Festival internet site
Tragedy in one actLibretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Created on 25 January 1909 at the Dresde Semperoper
| Musical direction | Esa-Pekka Salonen |
| Stage direction | Patrice Chéreau |
| Stage direction artistic collaboration | Thierry Thieû Niang |
| Light | Dominique Bruguière |
| Costumes | Caroline de Vivaise |
| Wigs and hairstyle | Campbell Young |
| Elektra | Evely Herlitzius |
| Klytämnestra | Waltraud Meier |
| Chrysothemis | Adrianne Pieczonka |
| Orest | Mikhail Petrenko |
| Aegisth | Tom Randle |
| Der Pfleger des Orest | Franz Mazura |
| Ein junger Diener | Florian Hoffmann |
| Ein alter Diener | Sir Donald McIntyre |
| Die Aufseherin / Die Vertraute | Renate Behle |
| Erste Magd | Bonita Hyman |
| Zweite Magd / Die Schleppträgerin | Andrea Hill* |
| Dritte Magd | Silvia Hablowetz* |
| Vierte Magd | Marie-Eve Munger* |
| Fünfte Magd | Roberta Alexander |
| Chorus | Coro Gulbenkian |
| Orchestra | Orchestre de Paris |
Festival d’Aix-en-Provence new production
In coproduction with the Teatro alla Scala di Milano, the New York Metropolitan Opera, The Finnish National Opera in Helsinki, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Unter den Linden
Elektra:
But I shall not cease from my dirges and miserable lamentations, so long as I look upon the sparkling of the bright stars, and upon this light of day, like the nightingale, slayer of her young, crying out loud and making loud proclamation to all before my father’s doors. O house of Hades and Persephone, O Hermes of the underworld and powerful Curse, and Erinyes, revered children of the gods who look upon those wrongfully done to death, who look upon those who dishonour the marriage bed in secret, come, bring help, avenge the murder of our father, and send to me my brother! For I have no longer strength to bear alone the burden of grief that weighs me down.
Sophocles, Elektra, Loeb Classical Library XX, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994 [1992])
«Agamemnon !» The name of the late king of Mycenae, proffered by Elektra, resounds like a dizzying growl, a throbbing moan. Since her father has been assassinated by her mother, Elektra repeats her father’s name like a litany as if it were an outlet for her grief. She revels in it, she is consumed by it, and only lives to see revenge being taken. Elektra is awaiting the return of her brother Orestes, who is the only person who can truly avenge his father with an act of vengeance that destiny demands yet nature reproves. Sophocles has constructed a tragedy around this expectation, which subsequently has been revisited by van Hofmannstahl. As a turn-of-the-century poet and writer, the latter knew only too well that classical myths were a thin yet vivid disguise for the complexities of the human psyche. Richard Strauss transforms Elektra’s cry, at once intimate and universal, into a shock opera, with an explosive score, a single act of expectation crowned by irrepressible violence, a superb orchestral score, as refined as it is unrestrained, and women singing the distress of a dysfunctional family.
Individual solitude and intimate violence are the very stuff of Patrice Chéreau’s work. It therefore seemed only natural to ask him, in company of Esa-Pekka Salonen, to stage the frenzied pursuit of Elektra, whose cry is the most human of songs.
Here is the link to Artelive web, Aix Festival on July the 19th.
http://liveweb.arte.tv/fr/video/Elektra_Richard_Strauss_Festival_d_Aix_en_Provence_Esa-Pekka_Salonen_Patrice_Chereau/
I was at the opening night on july the 10 th.
What I will write is meaningless compared to what I saw and listened to.
The gloomy atmosphere of Mycenae is totally present on stage, in the pure architectural lines of the vault and walls, the lying stone blocks on the side front and also in the lines of the shadows of these forms playing with the light according to what is happening between the three women and then the arrival of the men almost at the end of the 1h40 of this intense Greek tragedy.
The orchestra has a leading role, it has a continum of rhythmic motives, this waltz tune which runs through the whole drama and which seems to have no ending, until the frenetic last moment and concludes the tragic end.
Here, Elektra does not end rolling on the floor after her mad dance, but sits on the stone and stares at us, motionless.
That is what Patrice Chereau wanted us to share: the pure dramatic tension between Elektra, her sister, her mother and then her brother and her mother's new husband according to a very tragic vision with no thrills in the costumes or the setting.
This Elektra is like a blade, which comes into one's mind and tear it apart.
I came out and realised I had forgotten to breathe for more than an hour.
Waltraud Meier and Evely Herlitzius fascinated me, both so extraordinary as actresses and singers. Waltraud Meieir was rather human compared to other Klytämnestra I had seen, she played it almost suffering, until she came back to herself, while putting on her royal coat...
The orchestra and its conductor were the best I ever listened to according to what was happening, a gesture, a step, a cry : the synchronization between the pit and the stage was perfect.
Now, I need to find some peace and quiet to follow the Arte liveweb streaming I could not see on the 19th.
A great moment at the 2013 Aix festival that was, at the opening night. The whole audience acclaimed the cast and musicians for more than half an hour of standing ovation !
