【Elektra】Synopsis, Character Map

Contents
\

Elektra: Character Map

Elektra: Character Map
Elektra: Character Map

Elektra: Roles

Elektra (Electra)Agamemnon’s daughtersoprano
Klytaemnestra (Clytemnestra)Elektra’s mothermezzo-soprano
ChrysothemisElektra’s sistersoprano
Orest (Orestes)son of Agamemnonbaritone
Aegisth (Aegisthus)Klytaemnestra’s paramourtenor
  • Native title: Elektra
  • Composers: Richard Strauss
  • Librettist: Hugo von Hofmannsthal
  • Based on: Electra by Sophocles
  • Language: German
  • Premiere: January 25, 1909, Königliches Opernhaus, Dresden
  • Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes

Elektra: Summary

Events before the main story

Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, offers his daughter Iphigenia as a sacrifice to the goddess Artemis. His wife, Klytaemnestra, distrusts her husband. After Agamemnon returns from the Trojan War, Klytaemnestra and her lover Aegisth murder him. They leave Electra and Chrysothemis in the palace and exile Orest.

Elektra

Klytaemnestra is terrified of being avenged by her children. She cannot sleep because she feels guilty. Elektra intends to take revenge, but her sister Crisothemis refuses to help her get it.

News of Orest’s death comes in, but he returns alive. Orest takes revenge on Klytaemnestra. Her mistress Aegisth is also killed by Orest and his collaborators. Elektra dances when she learns of the success of her revenge. Elektra dies.

Elektra: Act 1, Synopsis

Courtyard of Mycenae Palace

Greece after the Trojan War. Courtyard surrounded by the back of the palace and the low buildings where the servants lived. A group of maids gathered at a well, with five maids and the head maid.

Maid
Where’s Elektra?

Wo bleibt Elektra?

Maid
Isn’t it time for her to go? Time for her to cry out for her father.

Elektra comes running out of the already darkened hallway. Everyone turns to look at her. Elektra hides her face with one arm and jumps away like an animal to leave.

Maid
Did you see the way she looked at us?

Maid
Her eyes have the venomous look of a stray cat.

Maid
I saw her laying there the other day, moaning.

Maid
She always does that when the sun is low in the sky.

Maid
So the two of us went and we got too close to her.

Maid
She can’t stand to be seen.

Maid
Yes, we got too close to her. She became as hysterical as a cat. “Get away from me!” So she yelled.

Maid
She hit me with a mop.

Maid
“You shall not devour the sweetness of affliction. Go away. Eat until you are fat. Have fun with men.” She shouted.

Maid
I told her back. “When people are hungry, they eat.” Then she jumped up and shouted with a horrified look on her face.” I have vultures in my body.”

Maid
What did you say?

Maid
“So you’re poking at an old corpse where it smells like carrion.” I retorted. She just growled and rolled over.

Maid
Why is the Queen letting her do whatever she wants? I’d keep her locked up if I were you.

Maid
They’re hard enough on her.

The fifth young maidservant, who had been silent for a long time, spoke in a quivering, excited voice.

Young maid
I will prostrate myself before her and kiss her feet. She is a child of royalty. Is it appropriate to humiliate her in this way? I anoint her feet with fragrant oil and dry them with my hair.

The head maid
Come in.

Young maid
You people do not deserve the air she breathes. Hang yourselves and let them hang you in a darkened barn. It’s payback for what you did to Elektra.

The head maidservant pushes the young maid into the door.

The head maid
Did you hear that? What did we do? She threw the dishes off the table when she was ordered to eat with us. She spat at us in front of us and called us whores.

Maid
She’s always ranting and raving.

The maids carried the water bottles and headed for the building.

The head maid
When she saw that we had a child with us, she screamed.” What a curse! The children born in this house will slip like dogs on the bloody stairs.”

She may or may not have said that.

The Four Maids
She said. She said.

The maids entered the building.


Elektra appears in the courtyard.

Elektra

I’m alone. I’m completely alone. My father is gone. He’s been driven into the cold valley. Agamemnon! Agamemnon! Father, where are you?

Now it’s that time. When they murdered you, your wife and he became one in the bed of kings. They murdered you in the bathhouse.

You have a son, Orest, and daughters. When the three of us have finished everything, a crimson tent will be pitched with the vapors of blood drawn by the sun. Your blood relatives will dance around your grave. People will watch from afar as my shadow dances, and they will say: “The feast of the great king is about to begin. Happy is the man who has children who dance around the tomb in the triumph of the king.” Agamemnon! Agamemnon!

Allein! Weh, ganz allein

Elektra’s sister, Chrysothemis, appears at the door.

Chrysothemis

Elektra!

Elektra stares at Chrysothemis as if waking from a dream.

Elektra

Oh, your face!

Chrysothemis

Do you hate my face that much?

Elektra

What do you want? Talk to me. And when you’re done, leave me.

Chrysothemis raises her hands in defense.

Elektra

Why do you raise your hands? And so my father raised his hands. Then the ax came down and ripped his flesh. What do you want?

Chrysothemis

These women are up to something terrible.

Elektra

Two women? One woman is my mother. The other woman is Aegisth. He’s a cowardly killer. He’s only brave in bed. So, what are they trying to do?

Chrysothemis

You may be thrown into a tower and not be able to see the light of the sun or moon.

Elektra laughs.

Chrysothemis

They will. I know it. I’ve heard it all before.

Elektra

How did you hear that?

Chrysothemis

Through the door. Elektra.

Elektra

Do not open the door in this house! Squeezed breath, oh. I can hear the gasp of someone being strangled.

Do not open the door. Do not roam. Sit on the ground like I did and wish for death to bring him and her to justice.

Chrysothemis

I cannot sit here staring into the darkness as you do. Every room in my house is haunting me. Already my heart is turned to stone and I cannot even cry. Sister, pity me.

Elektra

To who?

Chrysothemis

You make me suffer. If it weren’t for you, they would have left me alone. If they hadn’t shuddered at your hatred, we would have been freed from here. I want to get out of here. I want to have a child. Are you listening? Please answer me.

Elektra

You poor creatures.

Chrysothemis

Pity you and me. Who cares about such suffering? My father is dead. Our brother has not returned. I saw a woman give birth to a child by blessing. And the child grows up. I am a woman. I want to know the fate of women.

Chrysothemis starts to cry.

Elektra

What are you crying for? Get away from me. Get inside. There’s a place for you.

Footsteps of many people coming.

Chrysothemis

You have to leave. Don’t see her.

Elektra

I need to talk to my mother.

Chrysothemis

I don’t want to hear it.

Chrysothemis walked out of the courtyard.


Klytaemnestra appears at the window. Her pale face, lit by torches, looks even paler in her scarlet robe. She holds a jeweled ivory staff and leans against an attendant dressed in dark purple. Elektra stares at the window and stands up. Klytaemnestra points her staff at Elektra, trembling with anger.

Klytaemnestra

What do you want? (To the confidante) Look at that. See how her twisted neck bends back. She clicked her tongue.

O gods, why do terrible things happen to me? Eternal gods, why do these things happen to me?

Was willst du? Seht doch, dort!

Elektra

Do you need gods? You’re a goddess.

Klytaemnestra

(To the confidante) Did you hear that?

Her confidante
Doesn’t that mean you’re one of the gods?

Her trainbearer
(In a low voice) Isn’t there some kind of agenda?

Klytaemnestra

Her voice is nostalgic. She knows me well. But I don’t know what she’s up to.

Elektra slowly approaches Klytaemnestra.

Elektra

You are no longer yourself. Insects are always buzzing around you. Words whispered in your ear split your thoughts in two, so you walk around in a daze and always feel as if you are in a dream.

Klytaemnestra

She’s not malicious today. She talks like a doctor.

Her confidante
She never talks seriously.

Her trainbearer
Everything she says is a lie.

Klytaemnestra

I don’t want to hear anything. What you say is like the breath of Aegisth. When I wake you at night, you say different things. You say your eyelids are swollen. You say your liver is bad.

What is the truth? No one knows. If only she would tell me something that I would enjoy hearing. I will listen to what she has to say.

Above all, I need help. Leave me alone with her.

The maids leave and Klytaemnestra comes down to the courtyard.

Klytaemnestra

I can’t have a peaceful night. Do you know the antidote for dreams?

Ich habe keine guten Nächte

Elektra

Mother, are you dreaming?

Klytaemnestra

All old people dream. There is a ritual to everything. That’s why I wear jewelry with power. But I can’t use its power to my advantage. I wish you could tell me what’s good for me. As long as it’s okay with you, you can say what’s good for me.

Elektra

I do?

Klytaemnestra

Yes, you. You’re smart. You could say something useful to me.

Whenever I sleep with my eyes open, day or night, something creeps up on me. It’s not painful, it’s not oppressive. It’s not even a nightmare. And yet, it’s so bad.

My soul wants me to hang myself. Every inch of my body is screaming for death. But I am alive, and I am not sick.

You’re looking at me. Do I look like a sick man?

This dream must come to an end. All demons are the ones who let people go as soon as the right blood is spilled. I no longer want to dream.

Elektra

When the righteous blood sacrifice falls under the ax, you will no longer dream.

Klytaemnestra

Do you know which sacred animal it is?

Elektra

It’s not sacred.

Klytaemnestra

Tell me the animals to be sacrificed.

Elektra

It’s a woman.

Klytaemnestra

One of my servants? A child, a virgin, or a woman who has known a man?

Elektra

Yeah, a woman who knows men.

Klytaemnestra

So what do I do?

Elektra

You don’t do anything. The man does.

Klytaemnestra

Aegisth?

Elektra laughs.

Elektra

I said. The man does.

Klytaemnestra

Who is it? One of my own? A stranger?

Elektra

He’s a stranger, and he’s one of us.

Klytaemnestra

Don’t play riddles with me.

Elektra

Mother, can you please let my brother in the house?

Klytaemnestra

I forbid you to speak of him.

Elektra

Are you afraid of him?

Klytaemnestra

Who is afraid of a fool? He can’t say anything, he sleeps with the dogs in the yard, and they say he can’t tell the difference between man and beast.

Elektra

He was quite healthy.

Klytaemnestra

I sent him a lot of money so that he would be treated as the son of a king.

Elektra

Liar. You would have sent the money to kill him.

Klytaemnestra

Who told you that?

Elektra

I can see it in your eyes. In your trembling, I see that he is alive. Your heart aches with fear because you know he is coming back.

Klytaemnestra

It doesn’t matter to me who is outside the house. I am the master of the house. I have enough servants to guard the gates.

I can get the words out of you. I could put you in chains and make you say it. I’ll make sure you don’t get any food.

Once I know who will be sacrificed, I can sleep again.

Elektra moves even closer to Klytaemnestra.

Elektra

Whose blood has to be spilled? It’s your head.

When the hunter comes, you run around the room. If you go to the right, you will find a bed. If you go to the left, you will find a pool of blood in the bathroom. I am the one who joins the hunter. It is my father who emerges from the darkness. At his feet, we push you down. You will hold out your head. You will feel the blow. But he will hold back the blow.

The ritual is still not enough. All is silent, and you can hear the sound of your heart against your ribs. It’s time for you. It is given to make you feel the despair of death.

Then I will stand in front of you. You will read the terrible words written on my face. The ax will fall on you. Then you will dream no more. You won’t have to dream anymore.

The two stood facing each other. Elektra is euphoric and Klytaemnestra is terrified. At that moment, the corridor brightened and the maid came running into the courtyard.

The maid whispers something in Klytaemnestra’s ear. She doesn’t seem to understand at first but then regains consciousness. She gives the signal. A servant with a torch comes out and stands behind Klytaemnestra.

Klytaemnestra’s tension turns into a wicked victory. Klytaemnestra keeps an eye on Elektra. Her maid picks up her wand. She walks into the house, leaning on both the wand and the maid. The servants with their lights follow her.

Elektra

What had they said to her? She was happy. I can’t think of anything.

Chrysothemis comes running into the courtyard, shouting.

Chrysothemis

Orest is dead! Everyone knew it, except us.

Elektra was a little stunned.

Elektra

No one knows. It’s not true.

Chrysothemis throws herself on the ground in despair. Elektra helps her up.

Elektra

No, it’s not! I’m telling you. It’s not true.

Chrysothemis

Strangers had been sent to report here. They were an old man and a young man.

Elektra

(In a strong tone) That’s not true.

Chrysothemis

He died in a foreign land. His horse killed him and dragged him away.

An old servant and a young servant come out into the courtyard.

Young servant
I want you to saddle up as soon as possible. I don’t care if it’s a horse, a mule, or a cow, just hurry.

Old servant
For whom?

Young servant
It’s for my good. I have to go out into the field to pick up my master’s. I have to give him a pleasing and important message.

They walked out of the courtyard.

Elektra

You and I have to do this. Today is the day. Tonight.

Chrysothemis

(Fearfully) What?

Elektra

Now, you and I must go and slay the woman and her man.

Chrysothemis

Do you mean my mother?

Elektra

We must kill her and him without hesitation. No talking, no thinking. Think about how we’re going to do it.

Chrysothemis

Me? You and me? With both hands?

Elektra

First her, then him. First him, then her, same thing. No one is sleeping in her antechamber.

Chrysothemis

You’re going to murder her in her sleep?

Elektra

Those who sleep are bound, victims. If they had not slept together, I could have done it alone. But now you must go with me.

When Chrysothemis tries to run away, Elektra holds her back.

Elektra

You! You! You are strong. How strong you are. The night of your virginity made you strong. Every part of your body is filled with strength. You are full of strength, beautiful, like ripe fruit.

Chrysothemis

Let it go!

Elektra

I won’t let go. I want to be your sister. I will sit with you in your room and wait for your bridegroom. I will bathe you in a fragrant bath and anoint you with perfume. From this day on, I will be more than your sister and I will serve you as your slave.

There is no other way for you. I will not let you go until you swear to me. Tonight, when it is quiet, be sure to come to the bottom of the stairs.

Chrysothemis

I can’t!

Chrysothemis runs off.

Elektra

Damn. Then I’ll do it alone.

Elektra begins digging near the wall of the house. Orest appears at the entrance to the courtyard.

Elektra

Stranger, what do you want? What are you doing at this dark hour? Leave me alone.

Was willst du, fremder Mensch?

Orest

I have to wait here. Are you the maid of honor here?

Elektra

Yes, I serve in this house. But you have no business here. Now, be gone.

Orest

I told you I have to wait here until I am called.

Elektra

Don’t lie. The master of this house is not home. The other one is her. What does she want with you?

Orest

I have to tell her. I have come to tell her of the death of her son Orest. He was killed by his horse. I was close to his age and was his companion.

Elektra

Do I still have to talk to you? O, unfortunate messenger. You are alive. A nobler man than you is dead.

Orest

He enjoyed his life too much. The gods in heaven cannot bear the sight of too much bright desire. So he had to die.

Elektra

Those in this house eat, drink, sleep and live happily. I live a lonely and terrible life on this ground.

Orest

Who are you? Are you related by blood to the dead Agamemnon and Orest?

Elektra

I am its blood. I am the blood of King Agamemnon. Elektra is my name!

Orest

Elektra! What the hell happened? Am I looking at her? Did they starve you? Did they beat you? Your eyes are terrible. Your cheeks are hollow.

Elektra

Go inside the house. You will find my sister inside. She is protecting herself for the banquet of joy. I don’t even want to know who you are.

Orest

Elektra! Listen to me. Orest is alive.

Elektra falls.

Elektra

Where is my brother? Please save him before someone strangles him. Who are you?

An old servant and three servants enter quietly into the courtyard. They prostrate themselves before Orest and kiss his feet, his hands, and the hem of his dress.

Orest

The dogs in the courtyard recognize me, but how could my sister not?

Elektra

Orest! Let me see your eyes. You have a face more beautiful and sublime than any dream. I am ashamed. I am but a corpse now. I know you shudder at the sight of me.

I think I was beautiful when I was the daughter of a king. Once I turned off the lights and looked at the white nakedness of my body in front of the mirror, illuminated by the pale light of the moon, and felt a virginal shiver. But I had to leave it all behind. I had to abandon the silver haze around all women, the milky haze of the moon, the sense of shame, for the sake of my father.

Orest

Never mind my trembling.

Elektra

Do it alone? Poor kid.

Orest

The gods will help me.

Elektra

Blessed are those who can do. Doing is like a bed on which the soul rests. It is a wound, a burn, pus, a flame.

Orest’s servant stands at the entrance to the courtyard.

Orest’ servant
Is he out of his mind? Everything could ruin what we have to do.

(To Orest) She is waiting inside. Her attendants are looking for you. There is no man in the house. Orest!

The door to the mansion is lit, and Orest and his servant are invited inside. Elektra paces back and forth in front of the door.

Elektra

I could not give him the ax. Is there no God in this world?

From inside the palace, Klytaemnestra screams.

Elektra

Again!

A second scream. Chrysothemis and the maids of honor come out of the servants’ house with torches. Elektra stands with her back to the door.

Chrysothemis

Something must have happened.

Maid
I heard men going in. Maybe there is a killing going on in the palace.

Maid
Aah! There’s someone at the door of the palace.

Chrysothemis

It’s Elektra.

Maid
Why doesn’t she speak? I’m going to call people.

Chrysothemis

(To Elektra) Why won’t you open the door?

The maid rushes back.

Maid
Aegisth returned. We better go back to our rooms. He will go through the courtyard. If anything happens in the palace, he will kill us.

Chrysothemis and the maids return to the servants’ house. Aegisth appears at the entrance to the courtyard.

Aegisth
Hey, bring a light. Is there anyone here?

Elektra appears before Aegisth with a light.

Aegisth
What a creepy woman.

Aegisth notices Elektra.

Aegisth
Is that you? Who told you to welcome me?

Elektra

Am I not allowed to bring the torch to you?

Aegisth
Where is the one who can tell me about Orest?

Elektra

Inside the palace. He spends his time with a kind hostess.

Aegisth
He came to inform us of Orest’s death, didn’t he? Why are you wandering around with a torch?

Elektra

I have decided to be wise and stand by the strongest of men. So I will put a light before you.

Aegisth
(hesitates a little) Then, to the door. Why do you dance?

Elektra dances eerily around Aegisth with a torch.

Aegisth
Why is there no light here? Who is there?

Elektra

They are the ones who want to welcome you in person. I have disturbed you all in the past, and I will now retreat when I must.

Aegisth enters the palace. Silence is followed by noise. Aegisth appears at the window and tears the curtains.

Aegisth
Murderer. Save the master of the palace. Did no one hear you?

Aegisth is dragged to the back of the room to face the window once more.

Elektra

Agamemnon is listening.

Aegisth
Painful.

Aegisth is dragged to the back of the room again.

Elektra stands facing the palace. A group of women runs from the servants’ house, and Chrysothemis is among them.

Chrysothemis

Elektra. Sister, come with me. I have a brother in the palace. Orest did it. I hear them cheering with joy. Can’t you hear them?

From inside the palace, Orest’s name is shouted repeatedly.

Elektra

Can’t you hear that music? Infinite footsteps echo on the ground. Everyone is waiting for me. They are waiting for me to lead the dance. But I can’t. I cannot move my body.

Ob ich nicht höre?

Chrysothemis

Can’t you hear that? They are carrying our brother. Everyone is crying.

Elektra

Silence, and dance. Everyone comes this way. I carry the burden of happiness. And I dance before you. Silence, and dance.

Schweig, und tanze

Elektra begins to dance. As her dance reaches its climax, she falls to the ground. When Chrysothemis rushes to her, Elektra is dead. Chrysothemis runs to the palace door and knocks on it.

Chrysothemis

Orest! Orest!

Contents