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.

1. 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 important highlighting of the brutal state to which the Queen has devolved. Also the disjuncture of this largely 5/4 section provides a seething contrast to the otherwise steady waltz tempo, and increases its impact when it returns at 228. I find it telling that conductors are increasingly restoring this section, and am retaining it in my edition.

 

2. 240/1 - 255/1: Elektra’s tirade to her mother describing the terrifying hunt Orestes will undertake on his return home, ending in the queen’s death.

 

Interestingly, this entire section occurs in Hofmannshtal’s play during Elektra’s first scene with Chrysothemis, with Elektra describing to her sister the terrifying hunt that will end with their mother’s murder at their brother’s hands. Dramatically it makes complete sense to relocate this speech and direct it in first person towards Klytamnestra.

 

Still, nine pages of full score and 94 bars of music comprise this cut. By the time of the savage C minor explosion that starts the scene, Strauss has worked the music up to a high level of tension that this textual extension can’t sustain. Here is a prime example of Strauss defeating his dramatic instincts for his musical ambitions. And across the broader scope of the title role, this extended passage places demands on the vocal part - and we’re not even at the halfway mark of the opera yet - that make this cut worth retaining.

For another appetite whetter, as well as fodder for my argument in point 1 above, here’s my reduction of the section in question:

DIESE TRÄUME MÜSSEN EIN ENDE HABEN

I'm just noticing that this post never posted on its originally scheduled date of Dr. Strauss' birthday, June 11. Better late than never. A teaser video of  Klytämnestra's nightmare scene seems ironically appropriate.

CHOICE CUTS Part Two: How Elektra achieved its operatic form

In order to discuss the structure of Elektra and the cuts typically applied to it, I’d like to first examine the material and aesthetics on which it was constructed.

Hofmannsthal’s adaptation of Sophocles’ play maintains the basic plot flow of the original while considerably altering the structure and format. The chorus of antiquity is replaced by direct interactions between the characters or lengthy monologues for the principal characters. In addition to giving the poet broader opportunity to apply his own unique linguistic transformation to the original play's harshness, these monologues provide the title role, in particular, with opportunities to exploit that language in a panoply of thespian colors. 

These lengthy monologues were surely one of elements that attracted Strauss to the play. By the time he began Elektra’s composition in 1906, Strauss had achieved a highly hyperbolic musical language, writing in extremes of range and technical virtuosity. No matter the subject, it elicited from him the need to portray it in magnified terms, which he applied to ever longer architectonic structures undertaken by increasingly expanded orchestral forces. He was after all a partisan of the late 19th century ethos - particularly in Germany - that more is more. This affected the increasing length of his orchestral works, particularly the tone poems, and their sometimes uneven pacing. 

The result was an overall style of epic behemoth regardless of subject. A perfect example is the 1901 tone poem Sinfonia Domestica, in which Strauss devotes nearly an hour to an orchestral depiction of his own life with his wife and newborn son on a gargantuan scale, for a 102-piece orchestra that rivals Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen in monumentality. The Ring’s original conductor, Hans Richter, is supposed to have quipped of the piece that “not all the cataclysms of the gods in Valhalla makes half as much noise as one Bavarian baby in the bath.”

So it’s not surprising that the extreme situations of this epic Greek tragedy, heightened by Hofmannsthal’s fin de siecle sensibility, would have inspired Strauss to view the adapted work as an opportunity for exploiting his architectonic and orchestrational grandiosity via the medium of his largest orchestra to date, as well as offering the opportunity to write what would clearly be an unprecedented tour-de-force role for dramatic soprano.

But as mentioned in earlier posts, Strauss's ambitions conflict with optimizing the opera’s dramaturgy. In an otherwise keenly paced, savagely tense plot, Strauss’s architectonic ambitions in the opera result in an imbalance of pacing, as well as superhuman demands on the principal singer. The sags lie in my opinion entirely in Elektra’s part: a razor-edged sense of tension and suspense, brought to lava pitch, is frequently hindered by Strauss’s extension of a passage to suit his symphonic ambitions.

In my next post I'll review the traditional cuts individually, and discuss why or not I’ve decided to retain them in my edition. In the meantime, here's another teaser video of the score: the first part of Klytamnestra's scene with Elektra.

For other teaser videos, check out my Youtube page.

WIR VOLLBRINGENDEN!

It is with some amazement that I can announce the completion of the formatting of the full score of my reduction of Richard Strauss's Elektra, and therefore the availability of the performance materials.

It seems surreal that six years ago Chris Fecteau suggested this project in earnest. It's been so much work, undertaken on no particular schedule in my rare spare time from both my business and my other music pursuits, that subconsciously I'm not sure I really believed it would ever be done.

With the global pandemic still in full furor, not surprisingly the discussions towards its performance have gone dormant. But still, it's done.

ICH WILL HERAUS!

As the global urging of quarantine continues, the extra spare time my self-imposed captivity provides has brought the finish line of this project actually in sight. So here's my next teaser: Klytemnestra's entrance.

For me, this is one of the most extraordinary and innovative passages in Elektra itself, in Strauss' oeuvre, indeed in orchestral music. The genius with which Strauss captures the mounting suspence of the impending confrontation between Elektra and her mother, the increasingly frenetic and chaotic textures, the onomatopoeic depiction of the tumultuous procession with its whips and sacrificial animals.

It's also one of the prime examples of the argument of this edition: contrasting the impact of Strauss' original huge orchestra with the ability of my smaller forces to highlight the clarity of inner details that often get lost due to the dynamic overwhelm of the original.

VO courtesy of Noteperfermer 3.1.


**NOTE: All metronome markings, and therefore tempi, are Strauss', not mine.**

For other teaser videos, check out my Youtube page.

ICH HAB’ HIER EIN GESCHÄFT

A musical vocation, no matter in what area or to what extent, can have its challenges. It demands so much: time, energy, mental and physical devotion, sacrificing pursuits others might consider “regular”, often loneliness and a questioning of worth.

But the solace and purpose it can provide, particularly in times of stress or crisis, can truly be life saving. Or at least sanity saving.

The current pandemic crisis here in the U.S. - and in so many countries - is a perfect example. Most of the residents of this country, including New York City where I reside, are under orders to remain self-sequestered as much as possible to limit the spread of the covid-19 virus.

For most people this might seem like existential torture, captive in their dwellings and struggling to find ways to occupy their time and energy. Putting aside the general air of anxiety surrounding the situation, for a musician this is almost mana. In my own case, while my anxiety has prevented me from any original creativity on my own compositions, it is offering an unprecedented opportunity to catch up on the backlog of never-ending foundation work that composers always face: updates and revisions to existing pieces, digital admin work, parts or other engraving for which regular life nevers seems to allow time. And this sort of mindless busywork is a blessed distraction from the increasingly dire miasma of the news.

With my business clients largely on hiatus due to the situation, this increase in free time is allowing me to catch up on a number of delayed projects, in particular this reduction of Elektra. The instrumental parts are now all completed, and I’m making great headway on formatting the second half of the score. I expect the entire project to be fully completed by the beginning of May at the latest - the irony being that it may be considerably longer than that before any performing organization is in a position to consider undertaking it.

In the meantime, here’s another scrolling score teaser video teaser to whet the appetite… or the blade: Elektra’s opening monologue.

VO courtesy of Noteperfermer 3.1.


**NOTE: All metronome markings, and therefore tempi, are Strauss', not mine.**

For other teaser videos, check out my Youtube page.

OB ICH DIE MUSIK NICHT HÖRE

I have recently taken the plunge into world of virtual orchestration via the Noteperformer platform. As I'm principally an acoustic composer / arranger I've never had the time to really delve in to the more detailed and complex software, so Noteperformer has been a major gift in allowing me to hear realizations of my projects, including this reduction of Elektra, via a platform that's extraordinarily easy to use and intuitive, while providing excellent results.

So I'll occasionally be sharing sections of the full score as each scene is fully formatted. For the greedy and curious, these teasers will probably avoid the best known, "juiciest" bits. That'll have to wait for full rental or licensing.

No better place to begin at the beginning.



or other teaser videos, check out my Youtube page.