Possibly one of the most powerful endings I've heard in all of music, alongside Tristan und Isolde's and Götterdämmerung's. That beginning as well... Short but extremely effective, straight to the point.
I have adored this recording ever since I got the LP version from the public library when I was thirteen years old (I'm now fifty-five). It was my first experience with Elektra, and this performance spoiled me for any other. Nilsson of course is fabulous, and just about everyone else is on the same high level. I love Resnik's firm, confident voice, as well as her supreme vocal acting: time and again she conveys her exact facial expression through her voice alone. The bar is also raised by casting top tier singers in the small roles. Hearing such artists as Yvonne Minton, Gerhard Unger, Helen Watts and Pauline Tinsley ( herself a formidable Elektra) makes such a difference in the overall quality of the performance. My only disappointment is that Leonie Rysanek, originally contracted for Chrysothemis, had to back out due to illness, and was replaced by the yowly and thin-voiced Marie Collier. Next to Nilsson, she sounds like an alley cat in heat. The Vienna Philharmonic are at their rich-toned best, and Solti's excitable brand of hysteria is perfectly suited to this most hysterical of operas. The only conductor I've heard do it better is Carlos Kleiber, who took seriously Strauss' injunction to conduct Elektra as if it were Mendelssohn's fairy music, and produced thereby a rendition for the ages, orchestrally speaking. I must also put in a good word for John Culshaw's production: Resnik's evil, triumphant laughter is surpassed in gruesomeness only by her second death-shriek, which sounds for all the world as if she is vomiting her guts out through her slit throat! Thank you so much for this upload of one of the all-time great operatic recordings.
@@hrh4961 Believe me, I have the utmost respect for Marie Collier, not least for her artistic eccentricity and for her strong commitment to lesser-known operatic works. I am not quite old enough to have heard her live, and I imagine her voice must have been quite impressive in the house, where the acoustic would necessarily have given a far more accurate impression of her timbre and vocal weight. However, I cannot overlook the fact that her voice just did not record well under studio conditions, a misfortune shared by many great artists, including Gwyneth Jones, Josephine Barstow, Jill Gomez, Trudeliese Schmidt, Aage Haugland, Hildegard Behrens, Astrid Varnay and others too numerous to list. This is not a critique of their artistry, merely a recognition of an unfortunate fact.
Oh my god that laugh at 53:00...And the crazy wail from Chrysothemis 30 seconds later...They really brought out the unhinged vibe of the opera, talk about understanding the assignment 🤣
CD1 01-"Wo bleibt Elektra?" - 0:02 ("Where is Elektra?") Five servants try to wash the courtyard of the palace in Mycenae. While they do their work, they ask where can Elektra be, and she emerges from the shadows with a wild look on her face. The servants continue commenting how she came to be in that state and talk about how they taunt her only to receive insults from her. Only one servant shows sympathy for her, but she is taken away by the overseer to be flogged. 02-"Allein! Weh, ganz allein." - 6:17 ("Alone! Alas, all alone.") Elektra comes back for her daily ritual in memory of her father, who upon his return from Troy was killed while bathing by Klytaemnestra and Aegisth and dragged out into the courtyard. Elektra now starts imagining the day when her father will be avenged and then of the ensuing celebration in which she will lead the triumphal dance. 03-"Elektra!" - 15:45 Chrysothemis enters the courtyard. Unlike Elektra, she is meek and accommodating, and has remained on decent terms with Klytaemnestra and Aegisth. However, she cares for the welfare of her sister. She tells Elektra that their mother plans to lock Elektra in a tower, where no daylight will enter. Elektra laughs at this plan. Elektra asks where Chrysothemis heard it. When she tells her that she heard it at the Queen's door, Elektra screams that there is nothing to find in this house but death. She might as well sit and wish death on her mother and stepfather, as Elektra does. 04-"Ich kann nicht sitzen und ins Dunkel starren." - 18:08 ("I can not sit and stare into the darkness.") Chrysothemis does not wish to go on living a half-death in her own house: she wants to leave, marry and raise children. 05-"Es geht ein Lärm los." - 24:01 ("What tumult is this?") As loud sounds are heard inside, Elektra mocks her sister that it is her wedding party. In reality, it is Klytaemnestra, who has just been awakened by her own nightmares. She goes with a large processional on her way to appease the gods through sacrifice. Chrysothemis tells Elektra that Klytaemnestra dreams of Orest murdering her. Chrysothemis begs Elektra not to stir trouble with Klytaemnestra today. She tells her that when their mother is scared, she is the most vicious. Elektra shuns her sister's pleas, telling her that she will speak to her mother as never before. Chrysothemis flees the courtyard. 06-"Was willst du? Seht doch, dort!" - 25:45 ("What do you want? Behold, there!") Klytaemnestra stops at the sight of Elektra and wishes that she were not there to disturb her. She asks the gods for the reason for her burdens, but Elektra appeases her by telling her mother that she is a goddess herself. 07-“Die Götter! Bist doch selber eine Göttin” 28:38 "The Gods! Yourself a goddess 08-"Ich will nichts Hören!" - 31:11 ("I will not listen!") Despite the protests of the Trainbearer and Confidante, Klytaemnestra climbs down to talk to Elektra. She passionately remembers her years of motherhood with her daughter. She accuses her retinue of being contradictory in their justifications of her nightmares, so she relies on her daughter for a true interpretation. 09-"Ich habe keine guten Nächte." - 35:59 ("I have no good nights.") Klytaemnestra confides to her daughter that she has been suffering nightmares every night and that she still has not found the way to appease the gods. But, she claims, once that happens, she will be able to sleep again. 10-"Wenn Das rechte Blutopfer unterm Beile fällt." - 42:10 ("When the right blood under the hatchet flows.") Elektra teases her mother with little pieces of information about the right victim that must be slain, but she changes the conversation to her brother and why he is not allowed back. To Elektra's horror, Klytaemnestra says that he has become mad and keeps company with animals. She responds that this is not true and that all the gold that her mother has sent was not being used to support her son but to have him killed. Angered by this, Klytaemnestra goes off on an insane tirade, telling Elektra that she would give the proper information for a rite and sacrificial victim if she were starved. 11-"Was bluten muß? Dein eigenes Genick." - 47:03 ("Who must bleed? Your own throat.") Then Elektra reveals who is to be the actual victim: it is Klytaemnestra herself. She goes on to describe how the gods must be appeased once and for all. She must be awakened and chased around the house just like an animal that is being hunted. Only when she wishes that all was over and after envying prisoners in their cells, she will come to realize that her prison is her own body. At that time, the axe, with which she killed her husband and which will be handed to Orest by Elektra, will fall upon her. Only then the dreams will stop. 12-“Lichter! Mehr Lichter!" - 51:27 ("Lights! More lights!") The Trainbearer and Confidante enter and whisper to her. Klytaemnestra laughs hysterically and, mocking Elektra, leaves. Elektra wonders what has made her mother laugh. "Was sagen sie ihr den" - 53:12 (What do you tell her")
50:22 until 51:23 is the legend of Birgit Nilsson. Absolutely unbelievable, but even more so live. Who can never forget the ending of this duet in the World's Fair performance from Montreal in 1967 where she blasts out high b-flats, 'B's and that high 'C????" The audience freaks and so do I every time I listen.
Forever grateful to the author of this video, it saved my life, when rehearsing without a pianiat, and i had to jump from place to place. Having the score made it totally possible! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
The interlude " 26:25 Ernde" in Ein Frau und Schatten has the same effect. Fantastic sound. Strauss insistedvon 168 insturments for it. God in heaven it is inspired...
CD2 01-"Orest! Orest ist tot!" - 53:26 ("Orest! Orest is dead!") Chrysothemis comes bolting into the courtyard. She says that two messengers have arrived with the news that Orest is dead, trampled by his own horses. Elektra screams that it is not true. Both sisters sink to the ground in misery. 02-"Platz da! Wer lungert so vor einer Tür?" - 56:19 ("Give way! Who spies thus upon the threshold?") As a young servant comes out of the house to fetch the master, he trips over Elektra and Chrysothemis. 03-"Nun muß es hier von uns geschehn." - 57:15 ("It is for us to act now.") Elektra does not relent and a terrified Chrysothemis listens as her sister demands that she help her to avenge their father. 04-“Du! du! den du bist stark!” 59:17 "You! you! you are strong!” "Wie stark du bist." - 59:31 ("How strong you are.") Elektra goes on to praise her sister and her beauty, promising that Elektra shall be her slave at her bridal chamber in exchange for the assistance in her task. Chrysothemis fights off her sister and flees. Elektra curses her. 05-"Nun denn, allein!" - 1:07:23 ("Well, alone!") Determined to do it alone, she digs for the axe that killed her father, but is interrupted by a mysterious man who comes into the courtyard. 06-"Was willst du, fremder Mensch?" - 1:08:43 ("What do you want, stranger?") She hears that he is expecting to be called from within the palace because he has a message for the lady of the house. He claims to be a friend of Orest, and says that he was with him at the time of his death. 07-“Elektra! Elektra!” "Wer bist denn du?" - 1:15:10 ("Who are you?") Elektra grieves. The man first guesses that she must be a blood relative of Orest and Agamemnon, then, upon asking her name, discovers she is Elektra. 08-"Orest!" - 1:17:23 - 1:21:42 Then, taken aback, she recognizes him: it is Orest who has come back in disguise. Elektra is initially ecstatic, but also ashamed of what she has become and how she has sacrificed her own royal state for the cause. 09-"Du wirst es tun? Allein? Du armes Kind?" - 1:27:34 ("You'll do it? Alone? Poor child?") Orest's Tutor comes and interrupts the siblings; their task is dangerous and anything can jeopardize it. The Trainbearer and Confidante come out of the palace and lead Orest in. 10-“Seid ihr von Sinnen” 1:29:15 "Are you out of your mind” 11-"Ich habe ihm das Beil nicht geben können!" - 1:30:41 ("I could not give him the axe!") Elektra realizes that she forgot to give the axe to Orest. Horrified, she has no other choice but to wait. Nevertheless, the piercing shriek of Klytaemnestra is heard from within the palace, then a grim moan. Elektra smiles brightly, knowing that Orest has killed their mother. 1:31:55 12-"Es muss etwas geschehen sein!" 1:32:14 ("Something must have happened!") Chrysothemis and the maids run into the courtyard with torches. They realize what is going on, and are horrified. They notice Elektra at the threshold of the door and call out to her. A maid notices the approaching Aegisth outside the palace. Fearing his wrath, she tells the others to run inside. All do so, except for Elektra. 13-"He! Lichter!" - 1:33:08 ("Torches there!") Aegisth arrives. He is oblivious to what has just occurred; he is ecstatic to have heard that Orest is dead and wishes to speak with the messengers. Elektra, eerily dancing with a torch, happily ushers him inside the palace, reassuring him of her new change of heart. "Helft! Mörder!" - 1:37:06 ("Help! Murder!") As Aegisth screams and calls for help, Elektra replies: "Agamemnon can hear you." 14-"Elektra! Schwester!" - 1:38:08 ("Elektra! Sister!") Chrysothemis comes out of the palace stating that Orest is inside and that he has killed Klytaemnestra and Aegisth. A massacre has begun with Orest's followers killing those who supported Aegisth and the Queen. 15-"Ob ich nicht höre?" - 1:39:58 ("How can I not hear?") Elektra is ecstatic and wants to lead the crowd to dance but at first cannot. 16-"Hörst du denn nicht." - 1:41:21 ("Don't you hear?") Chrysothemis and Elektra praise their brother's feat. 17-"Schweig, und tanze." - 1:43:43 ("Be silent and dance.") At last Elektra begins to dance. As she reaches the climax of her dance, she falls to the ground: Elektra is dead. Horrified, Chrysothemis calls for Orest, but to no avail.
Love the opera, and this recording (of 4 that I own), and I once owned this exact same piano score - I recognized the wonderful print on the title page. I bought it years ago for $5, deaccessioned from the Philadelphia Free Library. . . . and gave it away when I moved 😞!
I couldn't find an audio book of Hugo von Hofmannstahl's "Elektra", but this is even better! A few verses are missing, but it's very close to the original.
My videos come and go. One month videos A, B and C are taken down. The next month, A, B are back up, but D gets taken down etc... I've stopped keeping track of it, especially since I don't get notified of any of this. However, if a video is still down for a long time (e.g. a year) and nobody else has uploaded an alternative then I sometimes try to re-upload, with varying success.
Der Fremde But Böhm's recording has Inge Borkh in the title role, whose rendition has never been surpassed in its total identification with Elektra's multitude of passions. There have been far more vocally secure portrayals of the role, but Borkh's vivid limning of Elektra's vicious bloodlust, her unsleeping desire for vengeance, her hero-worship of her brother, her grief for her father, her contempt for her sister and her rage against her mother have never been surpassed by any other interpreter, saving perhaps Astrid Varnay.
@@jasonhurd4379 I think they may have been referring to the opera film with Leonie Rysanek as Elektra (historically, she played Chrysothemis before she graduated to Elektra and later Klytämnestra), which I think is just as great as his earlier effort with Inge Borkh and Solti's recording with Birgit Nilsson (Karl Böhm was always a great Straussian, particularly in his operas).
""What operas have been written since Parsifal? Only two that count - Elektra and Debussy's Pelléas" - Igor Stravinsky (1913)" Count for whom? According to what measuring scale? And who's doing the measuring? The final judge? Stravinsky is full of it, of his own supreme importance in music. This epigram is thrown to the winds as if it came from a profound oracle, pretending to be the be-all and end-all of opera appreciation and valuation. It's always fun, to announce the end of history, in music as in any other area. You put yourself on a pedestal, and you think to be preaching the truth to the world. Only the simpletons buy that. But we're not so naive, like chiddren listening to a sermonizing preacher revealing the final truths. Stravinsky's quote is nothing more than that, another puff of breeze that comes and goes. This kind arises with every new generation. In fact, opera never died with Wagner, on the contrary. And Strauss himself was just one of the sequels, one of the new branches, alongside many more, as exciting and pleasurable, if not more. ROO BOOKAROO, Dec. 30, 2018
Way to completely miss what Stravinsky was getting at. It's clear that Stravinksy, always trying to find ways to do something completely new, would quite rightly say, that by 1913 only two operas managed to break completely new grounds in their combination of word, action, expression and music. And these are indeed "Pelléas" (which is absolutely a borefest for anybody not being able to understand french) and "Elektra".
La Boheme (for which Stravinsky himself said "the more I listen to It, the more I think Puccini is a real genius), Tosca, Madama Butterfly and "Salome" (much better than Elektra) and after those, Turandot. Pelléas? what a French bore.
God RR here is awful. Especially at end. Almost unbearable to listen to. So out of tune and tired sounding. And her counting is bad. Totally out of sync with the orchestra. But the whole cast is that way here. As usual with Strauss opera.
Highlights
15:08
23:55
47:05
57:09
1:07:26
1:17:24
1:29:41
1:37:07
1:43:44
*Orchestral highlights.
tomekkobialka I had to because I wanted to here them but I didn't have time to scroll to them or wait till that specific time mark
@@tomekkobialka
0.FSS
danke habbibi brauch das für nh referat digga wollte mir keinen ohrenkrebs holen und wegen dir muss ich das nicht :) lg Patrick Sebastian Kurz
@@edenetuk1608 😊😊😊
Possibly one of the most powerful endings I've heard in all of music, alongside Tristan und Isolde's and Götterdämmerung's. That beginning as well... Short but extremely effective, straight to the point.
54:27 Bitonality, E-flat minor and A major
I love this Opera, Strauss was a genius. What a ending...
Both the endings of Strauss' Salome and Elektra are incredible, he certainly knew how to end a work.
Thanks for uploading this video.
+BRENNAN COLSON i have heard best endings...did you listen to the previous ?
Brennan Colson Also the end of Act II of Die Frau ohne Schatten.
Love the orchestral blow after Chrysothemis' "Elektra" at 15:44
Dun dun DUUUUUUUUUUUUN
So good!
Экспрессивные оперы Штрауса великолепны. Мощь , эмоциональность , радикальность изобразительных средств. Предвосхищает Шёнберга и Берга.
Nilsson, with her laser beam and steely voice, is an incomparable Elektra for the age.
I have adored this recording ever since I got the LP version from the public library when I was thirteen years old (I'm now fifty-five). It was my first experience with Elektra, and this performance spoiled me for any other. Nilsson of course is fabulous, and just about everyone else is on the same high level. I love Resnik's firm, confident voice, as well as her supreme vocal acting: time and again she conveys her exact facial expression through her voice alone. The bar is also raised by casting top tier singers in the small roles. Hearing such artists as Yvonne Minton, Gerhard Unger, Helen Watts and Pauline Tinsley ( herself a formidable Elektra) makes such a difference in the overall quality of the performance. My only disappointment is that Leonie Rysanek, originally contracted for Chrysothemis, had to back out due to illness, and was replaced by the yowly and thin-voiced Marie Collier. Next to Nilsson, she sounds like an alley cat in heat.
The Vienna Philharmonic are at their rich-toned best, and Solti's excitable brand of hysteria is perfectly suited to this most hysterical of operas. The only conductor I've heard do it better is Carlos Kleiber, who took seriously Strauss' injunction to conduct Elektra as if it were Mendelssohn's fairy music, and produced thereby a rendition for the ages, orchestrally speaking. I must also put in a good word for John Culshaw's production: Resnik's evil, triumphant laughter is surpassed in gruesomeness only by her second death-shriek, which sounds for all the world as if she is vomiting her guts out through her slit throat! Thank you so much for this upload of one of the all-time great operatic recordings.
You're being much too hard on Collier. She does very well and caps the final duet with Elektra with a spectacular high B.
@@hrh4961 Believe me, I have the utmost respect for Marie Collier, not least for her artistic eccentricity and for her strong commitment to lesser-known operatic works. I am not quite old enough to have heard her live, and I imagine her voice must have been quite impressive in the house, where the acoustic would necessarily have given a far more accurate impression of her timbre and vocal weight. However, I cannot overlook the fact that her voice just did not record well under studio conditions, a misfortune shared by many great artists, including Gwyneth Jones, Josephine Barstow, Jill Gomez, Trudeliese Schmidt, Aage Haugland, Hildegard Behrens, Astrid Varnay and others too numerous to list. This is not a critique of their artistry, merely a recognition of an unfortunate fact.
Läufige Katze finde ich unverschämt. So spricht man nicht über Menschen. Und bewertet auch nicht tierisches, natürliches Verhalten.
Oh my god that laugh at 53:00...And the crazy wail from Chrysothemis 30 seconds later...They really brought out the unhinged vibe of the opera, talk about understanding the assignment 🤣
"Allein web ganz Allein" aka Elektra's monologue is one of the best pieces for dramatic soprano ever written.
Jose Hill THEE BEST
Facts can’t wait to see it
I could even be a beautiful standalone Lied
CD1
01-"Wo bleibt Elektra?" - 0:02 ("Where is Elektra?")
Five servants try to wash the courtyard of the palace in Mycenae. While they do their work, they ask where can Elektra be, and she emerges from the shadows with a wild look on her face. The servants continue commenting how she came to be in that state and talk about how they taunt her only to receive insults from her. Only one servant shows sympathy for her, but she is taken away by the overseer to be flogged.
02-"Allein! Weh, ganz allein." - 6:17 ("Alone! Alas, all alone.")
Elektra comes back for her daily ritual in memory of her father, who upon his return from Troy was killed while bathing by Klytaemnestra and Aegisth and dragged out into the courtyard. Elektra now starts imagining the day when her father will be avenged and then of the ensuing celebration in which she will lead the triumphal dance.
03-"Elektra!" - 15:45
Chrysothemis enters the courtyard. Unlike Elektra, she is meek and accommodating, and has remained on decent terms with Klytaemnestra and Aegisth. However, she cares for the welfare of her sister. She tells Elektra that their mother plans to lock Elektra in a tower, where no daylight will enter. Elektra laughs at this plan. Elektra asks where Chrysothemis heard it. When she tells her that she heard it at the Queen's door, Elektra screams that there is nothing to find in this house but death. She might as well sit and wish death on her mother and stepfather, as Elektra does.
04-"Ich kann nicht sitzen und ins Dunkel starren." - 18:08 ("I can not sit and stare into the darkness.")
Chrysothemis does not wish to go on living a half-death in her own house: she wants to leave, marry and raise children.
05-"Es geht ein Lärm los." - 24:01 ("What tumult is this?")
As loud sounds are heard inside, Elektra mocks her sister that it is her wedding party. In reality, it is Klytaemnestra, who has just been awakened by her own nightmares. She goes with a large processional on her way to appease the gods through sacrifice. Chrysothemis tells Elektra that Klytaemnestra dreams of Orest murdering her. Chrysothemis begs Elektra not to stir trouble with Klytaemnestra today. She tells her that when their mother is scared, she is the most vicious. Elektra shuns her sister's pleas, telling her that she will speak to her mother as never before. Chrysothemis flees the courtyard.
06-"Was willst du? Seht doch, dort!" - 25:45 ("What do you want? Behold, there!")
Klytaemnestra stops at the sight of Elektra and wishes that she were not there to disturb her. She asks the gods for the reason for her burdens, but Elektra appeases her by telling her mother that she is a goddess herself.
07-“Die Götter! Bist doch selber eine Göttin” 28:38 "The Gods! Yourself a goddess
08-"Ich will nichts Hören!" - 31:11 ("I will not listen!")
Despite the protests of the Trainbearer and Confidante, Klytaemnestra climbs down to talk to Elektra. She passionately remembers her years of motherhood with her daughter. She accuses her retinue of being contradictory in their justifications of her nightmares, so she relies on her daughter for a true interpretation.
09-"Ich habe keine guten Nächte." - 35:59 ("I have no good nights.")
Klytaemnestra confides to her daughter that she has been suffering nightmares every night and that she still has not found the way to appease the gods. But, she claims, once that happens, she will be able to sleep again.
10-"Wenn Das rechte Blutopfer unterm Beile fällt." - 42:10 ("When the right blood under the hatchet flows.")
Elektra teases her mother with little pieces of information about the right victim that must be slain, but she changes the conversation to her brother and why he is not allowed back. To Elektra's horror, Klytaemnestra says that he has become mad and keeps company with animals. She responds that this is not true and that all the gold that her mother has sent was not being used to support her son but to have him killed. Angered by this, Klytaemnestra goes off on an insane tirade, telling Elektra that she would give the proper information for a rite and sacrificial victim if she were starved.
11-"Was bluten muß? Dein eigenes Genick." - 47:03 ("Who must bleed? Your own throat.")
Then Elektra reveals who is to be the actual victim: it is Klytaemnestra herself. She goes on to describe how the gods must be appeased once and for all. She must be awakened and chased around the house just like an animal that is being hunted. Only when she wishes that all was over and after envying prisoners in their cells, she will come to realize that her prison is her own body. At that time, the axe, with which she killed her husband and which will be handed to Orest by Elektra, will fall upon her. Only then the dreams will stop.
12-“Lichter! Mehr Lichter!" - 51:27 ("Lights! More lights!")
The Trainbearer and Confidante enter and whisper to her. Klytaemnestra laughs hysterically and, mocking Elektra, leaves. Elektra wonders what has made her mother laugh.
"Was sagen sie ihr den" - 53:12 (What do you tell her")
50:22 until 51:23 is the legend of Birgit Nilsson. Absolutely unbelievable, but even more so live. Who can never forget the ending of this duet in the World's Fair performance from Montreal in 1967 where she blasts out high b-flats, 'B's and that high 'C????" The audience freaks and so do I every time I listen.
Forever grateful to the author of this video, it saved my life, when rehearsing without a pianiat, and i had to jump from place to place. Having the score made it totally possible! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I love this upload! The stereo sound lets you hear where the characters and choirs are on the stage. Almost feels like being in the opera house.
Thank you for this! My favourite opera and my favourite recording!
Nothing gives me chills like this 15:27
The interlude " 26:25 Ernde" in Ein Frau und Schatten has the same effect. Fantastic sound. Strauss insistedvon 168 insturments for it. God in heaven it is inspired...
CD2
01-"Orest! Orest ist tot!" - 53:26 ("Orest! Orest is dead!")
Chrysothemis comes bolting into the courtyard. She says that two messengers have arrived with the news that Orest is dead, trampled by his own horses. Elektra screams that it is not true. Both sisters sink to the ground in misery.
02-"Platz da! Wer lungert so vor einer Tür?" - 56:19 ("Give way! Who spies thus upon the threshold?")
As a young servant comes out of the house to fetch the master, he trips over Elektra and Chrysothemis.
03-"Nun muß es hier von uns geschehn." - 57:15 ("It is for us to act now.")
Elektra does not relent and a terrified Chrysothemis listens as her sister demands that she help her to avenge their father.
04-“Du! du! den du bist stark!” 59:17 "You! you! you are strong!”
"Wie stark du bist." - 59:31 ("How strong you are.")
Elektra goes on to praise her sister and her beauty, promising that Elektra shall be her slave at her bridal chamber in exchange for the assistance in her task. Chrysothemis fights off her sister and flees. Elektra curses her.
05-"Nun denn, allein!" - 1:07:23 ("Well, alone!")
Determined to do it alone, she digs for the axe that killed her father, but is interrupted by a mysterious man who comes into the courtyard.
06-"Was willst du, fremder Mensch?" - 1:08:43 ("What do you want, stranger?")
She hears that he is expecting to be called from within the palace because he has a message for the lady of the house. He claims to be a friend of Orest, and says that he was with him at the time of his death.
07-“Elektra! Elektra!”
"Wer bist denn du?" - 1:15:10 ("Who are you?")
Elektra grieves. The man first guesses that she must be a blood relative of Orest and Agamemnon, then, upon asking her name, discovers she is Elektra.
08-"Orest!" - 1:17:23 - 1:21:42
Then, taken aback, she recognizes him: it is Orest who has come back in disguise. Elektra is initially ecstatic, but also ashamed of what she has become and how she has sacrificed her own royal state for the cause.
09-"Du wirst es tun? Allein? Du armes Kind?" - 1:27:34 ("You'll do it? Alone? Poor child?")
Orest's Tutor comes and interrupts the siblings; their task is dangerous and anything can jeopardize it. The Trainbearer and Confidante come out of the palace and lead Orest in.
10-“Seid ihr von Sinnen” 1:29:15 "Are you out of your mind”
11-"Ich habe ihm das Beil nicht geben können!" - 1:30:41 ("I could not give him the axe!")
Elektra realizes that she forgot to give the axe to Orest. Horrified, she has no other choice but to wait. Nevertheless, the piercing shriek of Klytaemnestra is heard from within the palace, then a grim moan. Elektra smiles brightly, knowing that Orest has killed their mother. 1:31:55
12-"Es muss etwas geschehen sein!" 1:32:14 ("Something must have happened!")
Chrysothemis and the maids run into the courtyard with torches. They realize what is going on, and are horrified. They notice Elektra at the threshold of the door and call out to her. A maid notices the approaching Aegisth outside the palace. Fearing his wrath, she tells the others to run inside. All do so, except for Elektra.
13-"He! Lichter!" - 1:33:08 ("Torches there!") Aegisth arrives. He is oblivious to what has just occurred; he is ecstatic to have heard that Orest is dead and wishes to speak with the messengers. Elektra, eerily dancing with a torch, happily ushers him inside the palace, reassuring him of her new change of heart.
"Helft! Mörder!" - 1:37:06 ("Help! Murder!")
As Aegisth screams and calls for help, Elektra replies: "Agamemnon can hear you."
14-"Elektra! Schwester!" - 1:38:08 ("Elektra! Sister!")
Chrysothemis comes out of the palace stating that Orest is inside and that he has killed Klytaemnestra and Aegisth. A massacre has begun with Orest's followers killing those who supported Aegisth and the Queen.
15-"Ob ich nicht höre?" - 1:39:58 ("How can I not hear?")
Elektra is ecstatic and wants to lead the crowd to dance but at first cannot.
16-"Hörst du denn nicht." - 1:41:21 ("Don't you hear?")
Chrysothemis and Elektra praise their brother's feat.
17-"Schweig, und tanze." - 1:43:43 ("Be silent and dance.")
At last Elektra begins to dance. As she reaches the climax of her dance, she falls to the ground: Elektra is dead. Horrified, Chrysothemis calls for Orest, but to no avail.
Ι was right: I always thought that Nilsson was the Elektra in this recording. Her voice really sounded like Brunhilde, from Solti's Ring!
Have seen this opera many times but never the score, thank you so much for posting, very interesting and fun!
Beste Elektra-Aufnahme! Nilsson ist der Wahnsinn!
An hour and a half of pure madness. Opera doesn't get better than this.
50:56 three measures of high C
Thank you for posting such a helpful video with the score! Love this opera :)
Thank you for tagging some orchestral highlights. :)
Ah thank you for the score! I'm trying to find little excerpts and you just saved me hours of guessing.
completely incredible piece, just insane.
Love the opera, and this recording (of 4 that I own), and I once owned this exact same piano score - I recognized the wonderful print on the title page. I bought it years ago for $5, deaccessioned from the Philadelphia Free Library. . . . and gave it away when I moved 😞!
what a great channel! Just discovered the timecodes, quite helpful
That opening. Only other opera that begins with a similar gut punch is Otello.
No wonder it was documented that when asked, Puccini said Strauss wrote logarithm, too complicated. Lol!
My favourite opera good video to follow the score but needs to be seen staged in a world class opera house to appreciate fully
G R A N D I S S I M O !
1:37:07 exactly what I was looking for! It sounds like the stormtrooper theme by John Williams btw
This is amazing! Thanks so much.
やっぱりすごい演奏だ！
Schöne Aufnahme!!
I couldn't find an audio book of Hugo von Hofmannstahl's "Elektra", but this is even better! A few verses are missing, but it's very close to the original.
I love this so much. Especially because it's my name and stuff
I met a young woman, about three years ago, called Electra, I never expected that to happen; life is beautiful.
PHENOMENAL♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Credo che Strauss abbia memorizzato nella sua formazione Otello/Verdi.
As good has it gets ..................
1:08:42 1:13:25 und der ganze völlig unfaßbare "Rest"...
Thank you very much!
I love the English translation!
Why only two ???
Where can I find this piano score? On IMSLP it's incomplete...
Masterpiece.
the best
7:32 sounds like this from Star Wars The Last Jedi ruclips.net/video/ZHb9T6WvvW0/видео.html
Any chance that we will get Salome back?
My videos come and go. One month videos A, B and C are taken down. The next month, A, B are back up, but D gets taken down etc... I've stopped keeping track of it, especially since I don't get notified of any of this. However, if a video is still down for a long time (e.g. a year) and nobody else has uploaded an alternative then I sometimes try to re-upload, with varying success.
1:21 / 2:32 / 3:54
6:18 / 7:28 / 11:12
36:00
I think that you put the piano transcription as sheet music, which is a bit confusing since the orchestra is playing
Epic
1:17:24
14:35
Hi is this the new remastered release?
1864-1949
楽譜通りじゃない所が多すぎる 興味深い
17:33
Ugh so much better than that Boehm snoozefest.
Der Fremde But Böhm's recording has Inge Borkh in the title role, whose rendition has never been surpassed in its total identification with Elektra's multitude of passions. There have been far more vocally secure portrayals of the role, but Borkh's vivid limning of Elektra's vicious bloodlust, her unsleeping desire for vengeance, her hero-worship of her brother, her grief for her father, her contempt for her sister and her rage against her mother have never been surpassed by any other interpreter, saving perhaps Astrid Varnay.
@@jasonhurd4379 I think they may have been referring to the opera film with Leonie Rysanek as Elektra (historically, she played Chrysothemis before she graduated to Elektra and later Klytämnestra), which I think is just as great as his earlier effort with Inge Borkh and Solti's recording with Birgit Nilsson (Karl Böhm was always a great Straussian, particularly in his operas).
Bohm brings out a greater lyricism in the score and is wonderful for that…
26:21
11:13
""What operas have been written since Parsifal? Only two that count - Elektra and Debussy's Pelléas" - Igor Stravinsky (1913)"
Count for whom? According to what measuring scale? And who's doing the measuring? The final judge?
Stravinsky is full of it, of his own supreme importance in music. This epigram is thrown to the winds as if it came from a profound oracle, pretending to be the be-all and end-all of opera appreciation and valuation. It's always fun, to announce the end of history, in music as in any other area. You put yourself on a pedestal, and you think to be preaching the truth to the world. Only the simpletons buy that. But we're not so naive, like chiddren listening to a sermonizing preacher revealing the final truths. Stravinsky's quote is nothing more than that, another puff of breeze that comes and goes. This kind arises with every new generation. In fact, opera never died with Wagner, on the contrary. And Strauss himself was just one of the sequels, one of the new branches, alongside many more, as exciting and pleasurable, if not more.
ROO BOOKAROO, Dec. 30, 2018
It’s Stravinsky, though!
Way to completely miss what Stravinsky was getting at.
It's clear that Stravinksy, always trying to find ways to do something completely new, would quite rightly say, that by 1913 only two operas managed to break completely new grounds in their combination of word, action, expression and music. And these are indeed "Pelléas" (which is absolutely a borefest for anybody not being able to understand french) and "Elektra".
What a tedious comment
@@garrysmodsketches Signing with his username and the date at the end is the cherry on top.
@@mrtchaikovsky maybe he's old. old people do that sometimes
La Boheme (for which Stravinsky himself said "the more I listen to It, the more I think Puccini is a real genius), Tosca, Madama Butterfly and "Salome" (much better than Elektra) and after those, Turandot. Pelléas? what a French bore.
ich verstehe kein Wort
Apprenez l'allemand.
dann lies den Text....
wtf its so creepy
that's the point
Speak english .what even makes a sound like that??
God RR here is awful. Especially at end. Almost unbearable to listen to. So out of tune and tired sounding. And her counting is bad. Totally out of sync with the orchestra. But the whole cast is that way here. As usual with Strauss opera.
merci pour ce fabuleux travail musique/ partition...félicitation.
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