Tragedy in One Act (1909)

Like a call from mythical prehistory, Richard Strauss' "Elektra" conjures up the magic of the eerily gloomy, the archaically cruel. An almost indispensable "tremendous musical build-up to the end" (Strauss) immerses the listener deeply in Elektra's world of grief, pain and thirst for revenge.

The Mycenaean king's daughter Electra, humiliated and tormented by her family, pursues only one goal in life: day after day she conjures up the memory of her father, who was once treacherously murdered by her mother Clytemnestra together with her lover Aegisth, and waits for the return of her brother Orest, who is to take revenge for the bloody deed.

Like must be repaid with like.

Fluctuating between hysteria, hatred, arrogance, weakness, abysmal sadness, sarcasm and obsession, Elektra has lost all connection to the people around her, has become neglected and has denied her femininity.

Inspired by the power of language of his congenial librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Strauss created a monumental one-act opera for dramatic voices and giant orchestra that paints a musical-psychological portrait of extremely stirring expressivity and overwhelming sonic force. According to his own statement, his work took him to the extreme limits of "psychic polyphony".

Buy ticket

Additional information

Duration: approx. 1:45 h - no break

Language: In German with German and English surtitles

Preface: 45 minutes before the performance in the Apollosaal

Participating artists

Hugo von Hofmannsthal (Autor/in)

Richard Strauss (Komponist/in)

Back to event calendar

Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31