Richard Strauss: Elektra 35 years old

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.

Credits

Richard Strauss: Elektra Cast

Name	Character
Birgit Nilsson She was 88, 87 years old when she died	as Elektra
Donald McIntyre He was 71, now 89 years old	as Orestes
Robert Nagy He was 77, 79 years old when he died	as Egisto

Richard Strauss: Elektra Crew

Name	Department