The standard operas, their plots and their music; . voices have no opportunities. The people on the stageare only necessary for the physical action. The dramatispersonce declaim and sometimes so unmusically that it is meretalk. Strauss himself at a rehearsal remarked that no con-sideration had been paid to the singers. The immense orches-tra of one hundred and twelve pieces, often most minutelysubdivided, bears the heat and burden of this orgy of strangetechnic and complex cacophony. At another rehearsal Straussadmonished the orchestra: You play too gently. This musicis not civilized,
The standard operas, their plots and their music; . voices have no opportunities. The people on the stageare only necessary for the physical action. The dramatispersonce declaim and sometimes so unmusically that it is meretalk. Strauss himself at a rehearsal remarked that no con-sideration had been paid to the singers. The immense orches-tra of one hundred and twelve pieces, often most minutelysubdivided, bears the heat and burden of this orgy of strangetechnic and complex cacophony. At another rehearsal Straussadmonished the orchestra: You play too gently. This musicis not civilized, it must crash. The orchestra is subsidizedfor all manner of strange work and sometimes ludicrousdescription of the action, the words, looks, and even gesturesof those on the stage. The outcome of it all is a riotoussquandering of extraordinary genius in orchestration and con-structive musicianship, upon dramatic rottenness. For rotten-ness it is, notwithstanding the composers weak averment: In art there is never the moral or the immoral; such con-. Mary Garden as Salome Copyright, Matzene STRAUSS 277 ceptions are incompatible with the conception of art. Theartist refuses to answer the question, Is your art moral?Even the artist cannot touch pitch and remain undefiled. EleJctra Elektra was first produced at Dresden in 1909 and in thiscountry in 1910. The story is based upon Von Hofmannstahlsdrama of Elektra. The characters are the same but theaction diverges radically from that of the old Greek first production in this country was in French from aversion by Henry Gauthier-Villars. The German drama is not merely a tragedy but a tragedyof insanity and horror. If Salome is an orgy of sensu-ality, Elektra is an orgy of bloodthirstiness and insanefury, in which Elektra is the central figure. When Agamem-non, Elektras father, went to the Trojan War, he confidedhis wife, Clytemnestra, and his home to ^gisthus, the mur-derer of Agamemnons father. His confidence is abused andwh
Size: 1271px × 1965px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorupt, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectoperas
