Lyric Opera 2018-2019 Issue 8 Elektra

L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O 34 | February 2 - 22, 2019 Shortly before Lyric’s production of Elektra premiered in 2012, its original director, Sir David McVicar, responded to Sir David McVicar responded to questions from the company’s director of media relations, Magda Krance. (Edited by the company’s dramaturg, Roger Pines.) What makes Elektra a great opera? e score – it’s a combination of libretto and music that is simply a marriage made in heaven. is was Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s first collaboration with Richard Strauss, a turning point in both their lives. It was Hofmannsthal who made the relationship happen, having recognized something in the Salome score – Strauss’s music is, after all, so reflective of the time in which he lived. In Salome he was exploring his characters’ inner psychology, and Hofmannsthal knew Strauss could do the same with Elektra . is piece is really a wonderful meeting of minds, and on every level, it absolutely works. Elektra has been compared to a hunk of black granite: where Salome is shimmering and exotic, Elektra is brutal and uncompromising. e era in which it was written is rather signi cant, isn’t it? Yes, 1909 – think of Russia, with revolution happening initially in 1905-06, then 1911-14, then 1917-24. ere’s a strong political element here that’s very interesting, in that we’re dealing with a closed society that needs to change – the old order is massacred. You can compare Elektra to a freedom-fighter! In Strauss’s closing bars you have one of the most chilling things in the opera: as Elektra dies, Chrysothemis turns and calls for Orest’s help, but the doors are barred shut. ere is no explanation for that in Hofmannsthal’s text, but it’s very telling. And think about it – a regime change hardly ever solves anyone’s problems. is is a 20th-century political sensibility that Hofmannsthal brings to Greek myth, still very resonant for us now. Is Elektra a piece that you wanted to stage for some time? For a long, long, long time. I finally did Salome at Covent Garden five years ago, and that was also the fulfillment of a long-held ambition. Once I got it under my belt, I knew Elektra was the next one. It’s just so damned visceral. Even if we ignore the psychology and mythology, it’s totally gripping drama – I don’t think there’s anything in opera to compare with it. It’s kind of like an opera written by Quentin Tarantino in the way it notches up the tension. You know the explosion of violence has to come, and it’s incredibly shocking and cathartic when it does. Elektra is the third Strauss opera you’ve directed. Chronologically speaking, you’ve zigzagged from the later with Der Rosenkavalier to the earlier, Salome , before arriving at Elektra . Yes, working through Strauss’s musical language, experiencing him in a non-linear way – it’s certainly an interesting way of looking at Strauss’s music, from the most popular to the most controversial of his scores. When it premiered, Elektra was really shock-horror-shock-horror. is was the most arduous score ever written. Even Ernestine Schumann-Heink, who created the role of Klytämnestra, said it was insanity – screaming like the Furies, absolute chaos and anarchy. ere were strikes by the orchestra, with people saying it wasn’t singable or playable or listenable. No one had ever heard such large orchestration, and the psychological density of it was difficult for the Austro-Hungarian-German public. Everything about the piece was disturbing. And it’s still as di cult to perform as it was in that rst performance. But it’s such a well-written score! If the cast is true to the drama, they’ll find a way to sing it. Of course, it’s an opera for herculean, Olympically athletic singers. ey have to be dramatic rather than careful. At the same time, they must have the stamina to get from A to Z – that’s a prerequisite. And they have to throw themselves into the drama, especially the three principal women. In singing and acting any role in the piece, you have to inhabit it 100 percent and simply lose yourself in it. It’s a short, intense opera – shorter than a lot of lms. Consider the Klytämnestra-Elektra scene: that’s a pretty complicated relationship. How do you esh it out in barely 20 minutes? I don’t have to, it’s all been done for me in the score. If it were any longer, it would be too long. Salome and Elektra are both short, yet not a bar too long – perfect pieces, both of them. Our designer, John Macfarlane, was inspired by North African tribal traditions, and the set design is inspired by the bombed-out institutional buildings from the Bosnian-Croatian con ict. We’ve actually made a decision to root the piece in an environment that’s mythological. I wanted to buck the trend of being too specific regarding placement of the story in our time, and to root it in an environment that is freer, avoiding the reductive clichés. We are dealing with resonant images of war, but also with mythology. In speaking about Elektra , Anthony Freud has described it as an excellent introduction to opera for rst-timers, especially those who appreciate powerful theater and lm experiences. I would agree, especially teenagers – it will blow their minds! ink of the anger expressed in this piece. It’s about rage, matricide, disempowerment between generations. It’s also about revolution and not accepting the status quo. e music will also grab young people – the sheer loudness of it. (You think a rock concert is loud?) is score screams from a very primal part of the psyche. In the end, that’s what is fundamentally gripping about the music and the story – they speak about primal impulses and family relationships that are not always healthy. Its Freudian connection speaks about rites of passage, psychological needs for children to supplant their parents. Very, very few people in the audience will find nothing to relate to in experiencing this opera. Director’s Note Christine Goerke (standing) in the title role and Jill Grove as Klytämnestra in Sir David McVicar’s production of Elektra at Lyric (2012/13). ROBERT KUSEL