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Text of the page (random words):
es abound just one during the second part of klytemnestra s confrontation scene with her daughter on page 117 of the full score one bar before rehearsal number 179 elektra traumst du mutter the first and second violins play a pp fingered tremolo in thirds against the muted trumpets like a tiny shiver or whisper of cold air disappearing in the next measure to an open fifth pp harmonic in the violas to date my ear you won t be the first to question its reliability has yet to discern this diaphanous touch much of this ideology stems from the increasing orchestral complexity of strauss s tone poems a method he transferred verbatim into the opera house orchestra pit but here these delicate touches are not only at an acoustic disadvantage but fall victim to the listener s focus on the voices marie wittich the soprano tasked with creating the role of salome in 1904 pointed out the seeming folly of this approach after the first sitzprobe one just doesn t write like that herr strauss either one thing or the other i d love to have seen annie kroll s expression when faced with the first elektra sitzprobe poor thing tellingly strauss increasingly moved away from this sort of orchestral complexity in the ensuing operas even die frau ohne schatten completed in 1916 with an almost comparably sized orchestra and nearly three times elektra s duration displays a paring down of intense inner detail particularly in vocal passages with all that said some of these passages in elektra are marvels prime of these for me is the scene between elektra and her mother s lover aegisth with the horrifying suspense of klytamnestra s murder followed by the knife edge hysteria of chrysothemis and the maids just passed and the titanic ending still to come strauss takes the opportunity for an airy scherzo like atmosphere for this scene no less sinister for it s jovial facade he depicts his heroine s thirst for her hated stepfather s imminent murder with a brilliant interweaving of motifs connected to the deed interspersed with filigree touches of the glee she can barely suppress if the dramatic flow seems hiccuped here the musical contrast more than compensates posted by ed windels at 7 04 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest saturday january 2 2021 wenn alles still ist an der fuss der treppe salome was the second of strauss s operas that i became acquainted with after rosenkavalier one of the most musically brilliant passages in this revolutionary score is the scene of salome awaiting the beheading of the object of affection so when i learned that the opera had a very similar successor in elektra i was eager to see how strauss would handle an almost identical situation musically this scene is one of my favorites in the opera i m fascinated at how strauss so brilliantly differentiates the moods in the two operas to depict elektra s savage anticipation of the murder of her mother she s so long awaited strauss transforms an instrumental motif associated with the act into an onomatopoeic reflection of her suspense rushing around in the lower strings as she prowls before the door of the palace waiting for the act to be committed it s a brilliant idea and invariably jolts the listener as intended posted by ed windels at 3 33 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels abridged opera elektra opera reductions orchestration reduced opera richard strauss sneaky peek strauss saturday november 28 2020 family reunions it seems serendipitous that the timing of my next teaser the reunion between elektra and orest should fall on the u s s thanksgiving a holiday traditionally marked by family gatherings in a rare but admirable bit of ironic humor the metropolitan opera scheduled a showing of their 2016 video capture of the opera for thanksgiving night starring nina stemme and waltraude meier in top form this teaser shows a prime example of strauss s desire in his operas to retain all the minute febrile orchestral detail of his tone poems at the risk of their being lost behind the listener s inevitable focus on the voices a gossamer web of arpeggiated themes gleamed by glockenspiel twinkling harp and spiraling solo violins form a tendriling harmonic background against which the vocal line can wander this is one of several sections of the opera where i suspect the reduced forces will enhance the audibility of this orchestral detail oh i m sorry were you expecting the big recognition bang or perhaps elektra s aria you ll have to wait for live performance for that posted by ed windels at 11 45 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels abridged opera elektra opera reductions orchestration reduced opera richard strauss sneaky peek strauss tuesday october 13 2020 intimacy and epicness in elektra even as his numerical and technical demands increased with each succeeding work strauss maintained a wide variety of expressive dynamic from full heaven storming orchestral forces to moments of quiet intimacy one of the many reasons elektra must have appealed to the composer was the opportunity for just such contrasts in scale a prime example is the middle of elektra s attempt to persuade her sister to be her accomplice in the murder of their mother and her lover with the announcement of their brother s alleged death elektra plunges straight away into pivoting to take on the long awaited revenge herself in a hushed yet feverish passage punctuated by occasional full force thunderbolts and then to a full blown heroic section as she tries to convince chrysothemis of her capability in sharing in the murders instead chrysothemis begs her sister to flee so elektra shifts tactics gently painting dreams of the rewards the murders will bring her freedom and most importantly the physical affection chrysothemis is so desperate for here strauss pulls back to a small group of solo strings still reflecting elektra s seething thoughts by their rhythmic complexity the occasional underpinning from the rest of the sections reminds us of the volcanic determination hidden behind this supposed sisterly warmth this little aria builds in intensity strauss here uses almost verbatim a burgeoning number of string lines straight from the von der hinterwelten section of his also sprach zarathustra until chrysothemis protest pulls the full orchestra back in to play it s a fascinating piece of psychology by orchestration and one that works just as well i think with 21 strings as with 86 here it is posted by ed windels at 10 00 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels abridged opera elektra opera reductions tuesday september 29 2020 choice cuts part four to keep or not the abridgements typically made in elektra continuing my thoughts from july on the cuts traditionally made to elektra and why or why not i m retaining them in this reduced orchestra edition in the descriptions below the numerical designations indicate rehearsal number measure number after the said rehearsal number 59a 1 68a 1 the first section of a sustained scene in which elektra attempts to persuade her sister to join her in committing the murders over the years i ve come to consider this cut musically ill advised on an architectonic level strauss knows what he s doing here the musical build up and the dramatic impetus are well integrated and the final arrival at chrysothemis heroic bucolic eb major theme at 68a has so much more impact and makes much more sense with this section retained whereas the traditional cut always strikes me as mangled and ill sutured so i m retaining it in my edition as a reinforcement for this retention here s another scrolling score teaser from my edition of this passage 89a 1 102a 1 and 104a 1 108 a elektra continues to persuade her sister to aid her in the murders in both cases see point 2 above strauss has again built up a musical and dramatic tension that these extended sections counteract 166a 7 171 a dramatically this is a really interesting passages in which elektra drops some hints about why for so many years she has obsessively clung to hatred and revenge and the memory of her father i include the text of the entire section below from the end of of elektra s recognition aria to the beginning of her duet with orestes with the passage traditionally cut in italics nein du sollst mich nicht umarmen tritt weg ich schäme mich vor dir ich weiss nicht wie du mich ansiehst ich bin nur mehr der leichnam deiner schwester mein armes kind ich weiss es schaudert dich vor mir und war doch eines königs tochter ich glaube ich war schön wenn ich die lampe ausblies vor meinem spiegel fühlt ich es mit keuschem schauer ich fühlt es wie der dünne strahl des mondes in meines körpers weisser nacktheit badete so wie in einem weiher und mein haar war solches haar vor dem die männer zittern dies haar versträhnt beschmutzt erniedrigt verstehst du s bruder ich habe alles was ich war hingeben müssen meine scham hab ich geopfert die scham die süsser als alles ist die scham die wie der silberdunst der milchige des monds um jedes weib herum ist und das grässliche von ihr und ihrer seele weghält verstehst du s bruder diese süssen schauder hab ich dem vater opfern müssen meinst du wenn ich an meinem leib mich freute drangen seine seufzer drang nicht sein stöhnen an mein bette eifersüchtig sind die toten und er schickte mir den hass den hohläugigen hass als bräutigam so bin ich eine prophetin immerfort gewesen und habe nichts hervorgebracht aus mir und meinem leib als flüche und verzweiflung was schaust du ängstlich um dich sprich zu mir sprich doch du zitterst ja am ganzen leib no you mustn t embrace me keep away i m ashamed in front of you i don t know how you can stand to look at me i m nothing more than the corpse of your sister my poor child i know it horrifies you to look at me who was once the daughter of a king i think i was pretty when i blew out the lamp at my mirror i felt it with chaste trembling i felt it like the thin gleam of the moon bathing in my body s white nakedness as if in a censor and my hair was such hair before which men tremble this hair bedraggled filthy disgusting do you understand brother i have had to sacrifice everything i ve sacrificed my modesty that modesty sweeter than anything that modesty that surrounds every woman like the silver radiance of the milky moon and protects her and her soul from horror do you understand brother that sweet modesty had to be sacrificed to father don t you think when i delighted in my body his sighs his moans didn t invade my bed jealous are the dead and he bequeathed me hate hollow eyed hate for a bridegroom thus i am relegated to being a prophetess and my body has experienced nothing more than curses and despair why do you look around so nervously speak to me speak your whole body is trembling the insinuation of a more than usually intimate father daughter relationship is pretty clear and does much to explain both elektra s traumatized mental state and in particular her unshakeable quest for vengeance on her father s behalf the biggest problem with this section is its questionable placement in the play one wonders why hofmannsthal chose to hold this revelation if that s what it is to so late in the drama the murders are impending the audience is fidgeting in the case of the opera the heroine has just been allotted her first extended piece of lyricism which doesn t necessarily benefit from greater extension it s a debatable choice of dramatic plotting still the impact on elektra s character and the entire drama is significant enough and the section itself short enough that i m retaining it in my edition should the circumstances and time ever permit i may go back and reinstate the sections that i m planning to omit posted by ed windels at 10 00 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest friday august 14 2020 lichter as an interstice between my very bloviatory posts on the cuts usually made in elektra here s a little toe tapper the final scherzo from the confrontation scene between elektra and klytamnestra i m offering a longer snippet than usual here because i think this is one of strauss s most brilliant and imaginative pieces of both composition and orchestration and i wanted to show it a little love as the audience is typically too busy focussed on the understandably gripping stage action at this point to fully absorb the brilliance of it i m also particularly pleased at how at least digitally the reduction of this section has turned out posted by ed windels at 12 19 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels abridged opera elektra opera reductions orchestration reduced opera richard strauss sneaky peek strauss wednesday july 15 2020 choice cuts part three to keep or not the abridgements typically made in elektra my next two posts will examine the cuts that are traditionally made in elektra and which of those i m planning to retain in my edition for the time being with the cuts traditionally imposed on elektra one is faced with the conflicts of respecting strauss architectonic design the problems that imposes on the opera s dramatic pacing and the extraordinary demands on the performer of the title role in the descriptions below the numerical designations indicate rehearsal number measure number after the said rehearsal number 225 1 228 1 a small section towards the end of klytamnestra s confrontation with elektra as the queen demands that her daughter identity of the sacrifice that will banish her nightmares this cut of all of 16 measures has always perplexed me its brevity hardly seems to make it worthwhile here and there you will read that it inhibits the pace building to the immediately following outburst from elektra describing her mother s death i feel the opposite at the very least there is a dramatic motivational reinforcement to this section that i am always sorry to see omitted hoffmannsthal s obfuscation from the original greek plays of the argument for klytamnestra s murder of her husband and strauss s elimination of much of what little hoffmannsthal grants her reduces klytemnestra in the opera to a cartoonish caricature of unexplained evil that makes for a simplistic and unsophisticated experience on the rare occasions that this passage is retained it enhances klytamnestra s complexity and impetus having vacillated between various emotional states to lure elektra in to revealing the remedy to her nightmares the queen now sheds any pretense of civility making clear that she will stop at nothing to discover what must be sacrificed to banish the nightmares that plague her sagst du s nicht im freien wirst du s an der kette sagen sagst du nicht satt so sagst du s hungernd say it freely or you ll say it in chains say it fed or you ll say it starving this is less a disposable nicety than an importan...