Elektra, Op. 58, is a one-act opera by Richard Strauss, to a German-language libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, which he adapted from his 1903 drama Elektra. The opera was the first of many collaborations between Strauss and Hofmannsthal. It was first performed at the Königliches Opernhaus in Dresden on 25 January 1909. It was dedicated to his friends Natalie and Willy Levin.
The composer in 1911
Annie Krull as Elektra, c. 1909
Anna von Mildenburg as Klytaemnestra in the Vienna Court Opera's 1909 production
Curtain call at the Royal Swedish Opera in 2009
Richard Georg Strauss was a German composer and conductor best known for his tone poems and operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt. Along with Gustav Mahler, he represents the late flowering of German Romanticism, in which pioneering subtleties of orchestration are combined with an advanced harmonic style.
Portrait of Strauss by Max Liebermann (1918)
Strauss aged 22
Pauline de Ahna Strauss, c. 1900
Strauss villa at Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Built 1906. Architect: Emanuel Seidl.