Opera aficionados seem to love Richard Strauss’ opera, Elektra (1909), but my perception is that a sizable segment of opera fans shy away, instead waiting for the next production of La Bohème or La Traviata. Not having seen Elektra before, I was among the apprehensive ones. If you have also been hesitant to attend this opera, relax; I can report that Elektra is an enjoyable opera, and Washington National Opera’s performance is an excellent show. In fact, there is much to commend it. I even considered going with “Triumphant” in the title of this report. I should explain. Let me speak to the reluctant fans.
Christine Goerke as Elektra. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.
First, a brief synopsis of Elektra: King Agamemnon has been slain by his wife Klytämnestra and her lover Aegisth; they marry and Aegisth becomes King. Orest, son of Agamemnon and Klytämnestra, has been sent away to avoid retribution. Their daughters, Elektra and Chrysothemis, remain under guard in the palace, though they can move about. Chrysothemis wants to move past all this and longs to get married and have children. Elektra stews in her rage, obsessed with planning for revenge, committed to the killing of her mother and stepfather. Orest, rumored to be dead, sneaks back into the palace and carries out Elektra’s wishes, making himself King, and Elektra dances into a mad frenzy until she collapses on the floor, presumably dead. Author Hugo von Hofmannsthal adapted the libretto from his successful play Elektra, which was based on the Greek tragedy by Sophocles. One likely reason for Elektra’s only moderate succes with audiences is that it lacks a central love story. Instead, we are presented with a woman in pain, severe distress, and a theme of revenge, our need to right wrongs, to seek justice, and to strike back when hurt… and the damage it causes. A cautionary note - I knew the story from Greek history and literature and expected the opera version to be violent and bloody. However, I found it to be not any more so than your average modern detective movie, or your average opera for that matter, and much less graphic than movies.
Christine Goerke (left) as Elektra and Sara Jakubiak (right) as Chrysothemis. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.
Elektra’s stature in the opera canon made me want to attend, but I had read reviews that worried me, despite all the praise it receives. What had caused me the most anxiety about attending this opera were the words avant-garde, dissonance, chromaticism, and polytonality that were used in many reviews in regard to Elektra’s music. After all, this is a twentieth century opera; composers were trying out new forms of music in that period, not always well received by a significant portion of classical music fans. I guess I’m still in my early stage of music appreciation; I want to hear music that is pleasing to the ear, at least for the most part, and I was worried about Elektra. When his Salomé came out a few years earlier, Strauss was called avant-garde, and Elektra was said to use dissonance (weird sounding), chromaticism (use of notes foreign to the scale the work is composed in) and polytonality (different instruments playing the same tune in different keys at the same time). Here is the pleasantly surprising deal with Elektra: it all works, and I really, really liked the music. It was enjoyable throughout. Any dissonance fit perfectly with the action on stage, and I found the music to be sometimes melodic and always engaging and powerful, rather terrific. I think I can guarantee that you won’t be bored; at the very least, the violent eruptions of the percussion section will wake you up. Strauss’ music played by the WNO Orchestra under the baton of Evan Rogister slayed my fears; the music was triumphant.
Katarina Dalayman (center) as Klytämnestra. with Alexandria Shiner as Trainbearer (left) and Alexandra Loutsion as Klytämnestra’s confidante. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.
Other than its stellar reputation, another thing that had drawn me to this opera was its appeal to great dramatic sopranos. They all seem to want to sing it despite the demands it makes on a voice and the soprano’s stamina, not to mention requisite superior acting abilities. The actress must almost constantly display extreme emotions of hatred, fear, anguish, and lust for revenge, while being the center of attention on stage for almost the entire one hundred minutes of the performance; Elektra has been facetiously referred to in the past as a “soprano breaker”. WNO selected a Washington favorite for this role, soprano Christine Goerke, one of today’s leading dramatic sopranos. Ms. Goerke has sung many times at the Metropolitan Opera and other leading opera houses, including this role for the San Francisco Opera in 2017. I saw her outstanding Turandot a few years back at the Met. She received early training with Wolf Trap Opera, and she has sung the roles of Isolde and Brunnhilda previously with WNO. On Saturday night, she was smoking, in excellent form communicating Elektra’s anguish and rage with her singing and acting. Is there a word that means music and singing combined? If so, there is your reason to attend WNO’s Elektra. And there’s more.
Ryan Speedo Green as Orest. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.
The cast around Ms. Goerke was also excellent. I was particularly taken with soprano Sara Jakubiak who played Chrysothemis. She has a beautiful voice and her acting presented an excellent counterpoint to Ms. Goerke’s Elektra. Renown soprano Katarina Dalayman sang the role of Klytämnestra with depth in her acting and singing; she gave us a compelling murderess who was coming apart and needing the support of her daughters. Base baritone Ryan Speedo Green gave WNO audiences another excellent performance, this time as Orest, portrayed as a strong, virile, action-oriented young man. Tenor Štefan Margita was compelling in his brief appearance as King Aegisth, making the king an interesting character. The singers in supporting roles embellished the performance. The duets in this production were among the opera’s most touching and enjoyable aspects, especially with Elektra and Chrysothemis playing off each other’s character and with Elektra and Orest showing genuine familial love.
Štephan Margita as King Aegisth and Christine Goerke as Elektra. Photo by Scott Suchman; courtesy of Washington National Opera.
The staging for this opera also worked, a back-to-back success in that regard with WNO’s Il Trovatore; running concurrently, it also has a theme of revenge, but includes a compelling love story. WNO’s Artistic Director Francesca Zambello directs Elektra with polish and symbolism. The set by Erhard Rohm included columns on two sides of the palace courtyard, one broken in half and bearing Agamemnon’s name. A balcony ran across the back of the stage with openings that allowed the characters to be seen moving back and forth while hiding the bloody aspects of the violence. Overall, the set and its lighting (thanks to Mark McCullough) achieved a pleasing artistic effect. The costumes by Bibhu Mohapatra were spectacular in color and design which gave a contrasting effect with the dark nature of the plot, but I guess in real life murderers don’t dress in dark hues to reflect the fact that they are sinister. Chrysothemis’ blue evening gown would have befitted Cinderella at the Ball. Only Elektra was clothed in drab grey. There were a couple of minor glitches which I assume will be corrected in subsequent performances. Overall, the elements of the staging, lighting, and costumes added to the believability of the story and provided some welcome lightness while a heavy drama was presented effectively.
Although I enjoyed Elektra as an artistic experience and superior entertainment, the story does give one pause; it addresses an important and disturbing theme. The plot of Elektra is presented in Greek tragedy as predetermined by human nature (or the gods), encapsulated in the phrase ‘blood calls for blood’, something we are expected to recognize (and accept as our ancestors did?). After all, do you think that Dr. Phil could have found a non-violent resolution for this family. I don’t accept violence as the only way out and prefer culture and our system of laws for resolutions. At the same time, I cannot deny that forfeiture of the lives of Klytämnestra and Aegisth felt right. But then, where does it end? Ms. Zambello in her Director’s Note says, “Even today, we see the same tragic cycle play out, again and again. Can we ever see clearly enough to break free?”. Well, if not, I think we are going to have to keep going to see Elektra until we get it right. Hmmm. Did I just say above that there is nothing to be afraid of?
The Fan Experience: Performances of Elektra are scheduled for October 29. 31, November 4, 6, 9, and 12; tickets for remaining performances can be purchased through this link. The opera is sung in German with supertitles in English shown on a screen above the stage. Parking in the Kennedy Center is typically plentiful at around $25 per day, with a small discount for Kennedy Center members when reserved ahead of the day. The Metro to Foggy Bottom and the free Red Kennedy Center buses from there to the Kennedy Center which run every 15 minutes are an excellent option. Always check with the venue of the performance you are attending for COVID restrictions; for Saturday’s performance, neither masking nor proof of vaccination was required.
If you arrive early enough, check out Kennedy Center’s new permanent exhibit “Arts and Ideals: President John F. Kennedy” in the JFK Gallery located on the Terrace Level. It covers President Kennedy from childhood to his death with a focus on his commitment to the arts.