On Wednesday we attended the Elektra Concert performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. I personally did not enjoy this performance as much as the Otello Opera. Because Elektra was a concert performance, it lacked certain elements that made Othello enjoyable such as costume changes and set design. Set design and costumes make a performance more engaging and interesting. I caught myself dazing off during several points of the performance. In Othello, the set design and costumes also helped me understand the story line to a different degree. I felt that I was unable to fully grasp the content of the story from the Elektra performance because of the inaccurate representation of the character’s conditions. For example, Elektra was dressed in a very beautiful red dress rather than being dressed in rags as she is in the original story. This created an inaccurate representation of the condition she was in, which made it difficult to understand her rage towards her family- especially for someone who has never read the story. It also seemed a little awkward how the actresses and actors would enter and exit the stage by awkwardly maneuvering through the Orchestra. In Othello, the translucent walls helped actors/actresses enter and exit the stage gracefully. Of course I do realize that I am simply not familiar with the different formats of Opera therefore I wasn’t able to appreciate this performance as much.
However, a positive aspect of not having a set was that the audience could appreciate the orchestra. In Otello, the attention was focused towards the set and the actors/actresses. Whereas in Elektra, the attention was equally distributed towards the orchestra and the characters- if not more attention towards the orchestra. Most of the stage was dedicated to the orchestra, while the actors/actresses performed in the small section in the front. We were able to see all of the musicians on the well lit stage. I could see which instruments were being used in each part and was able to notice how each instrument contributed to the overall music. We could clearly see the conductor passionately lead the musicians. I actually did not notice the conductor during Otello so I didn’t know how vital his role is to the entire performance. I loved seeing how vigorously he would wave his arms during the “Agamemnon.”
My favorite scene from the opera was when Elektra discovered that her brother was still alive. I was able to notice that the messenger was Orestes soon after they two have been introduced to each other. I was anticipating the moment when the big secret was going to be revealed which created an element of suspense. I loved how Elektra’s voice changed and she had more high notes during the big revelation. Even without reading the subtitles, I was able to notice their excitement based on their voices and high notes. However, the scene that left me a little confused was the ending. Elektra was overjoyed at the news that she avenged her father’s death that she simply dropped dead. She was ecstatic and was urging her sister to dance with her, but all of a sudden she sat back in her seat and it left me confused.
Even though Elektra lacked certain elements that I specifically enjoyed during Otello, I still appreciated other aspects of the performance such as the focus towards the Orchestra.
I definitely understand what you mean by noting that a good full staging of an opera can be more immersive than a concert staging. I’ll ask class what everyone thinks about the merits of a full staging (like we saw in Otello) vs. the minimalist staging of Elektra. A good full staging can add quite a lot; even though we only saw a few minutes of that old filmed version of Elektra in class, they conveyed the decadent and unsettling power of the piece. The “recognition scene” between Elektra and Orestes which you point to is one of my favorites in the opera as well. Here’s a clip of the scene from an old production of Elektra at the Met:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pqWSKty5FI
Incidentally, the Met is staging a new production of Elektra in the spring. This would be after Seminar 1, of course, but it might be worthwhile to see the new production and compare it to the one at Carnegie Hall.
Similar to what Huda has written, I had mixed feelings about whether I enjoyed Elektra or Otello better. While many of our other classmates preferred this performance over Otello, I do also think that the staging and the inaccurate representations of costumes was hard to grasp the emotions that we were supposed to feel. Perhaps because I am a more visual person, I prefer to see things in front of me, and I do not seem to effectively take things in when I listen. This trait worked against me in this play, because although the Boston Symphony Orchestra did an amazing job, as did the singers, I did not feel as engaged as I had during Otello at all times. The narrative was also more difficult to follow because if I had not known about the play before, I would not have known that Elektra has been through the wringer and been treated inhumanely, and thus, gives us less of a reason for the audience to identify with Elektra because the mother, Klytamnestra, does not seem that villainous. In other words, Elektra just seems crazy and extremely irrational. Next, the recognition scene with Orestes seems to make no sense because he is not in any disguise, so the scene plays out that he just says “Do you not recognize your own brother?” and suddenly she just recognizes him out of the blue since he had not changed anything. It would also not make sense why the mother would not have recognized her own son. The lack of staging leads to potential plot holds.
Also similarly to what Huda has written, I agree that the focus on the orchestra and the orchestral music was fantastic. The dissonance made the piece not necessarily pleasing to the ears, but it definitely created the mood of the play perfectly: anxious, tense, and vengeful. Strauss immediately starts off the play with aggressive, accented beats, and the tension in the music is never fully resolved. The only times I felt more settled were the “heart to hearts” that Elektra had with her sister, Chrysothemis, when the music became filled with swells, and more melodic tunes. The music made Elektra seem extremely human, and desperate, because she is so fiery towards everybody else that she meets. These moments where she is sweet to her sister, she is able to explain herself, rather than being consumed by anger and seeming completely unrational. She is much more relatable, and her motives make more sense to the audience. It is ironic because at the time of the “heart to heart” Elektra is trying to convince Chrysothemis to kill her mother with her. Although the purpose of Elektra is to be an opera, so the voices are necessary, I did not enjoy the overpowering nature of the operatic score. I had expected the performance at Carnegie Hall to be only the orchestra; however, it was not. Some of the climactic moments, I had wished that I could hear more of the orchestra, rather than the voices. It was especially upsetting because the staging suggested that the orchestra would be more prominent since they were not in a separate pit, but I still felt that they were the accompaniment and not a focal point as they should have been according to the staging. I wished that there was more of an opportunity to appreciate the complicated elements of the instrumentals. For example, the recognition scene could have been more touching if there had been more room for the revelation that would reflect Elektra’s thought process, rather than it clicking quickly and having her have a relatively immediate response.
All in all, I thought this production was well done, the venue and ambiance was a great experience to have; however, I think I would prefer something more visual in the future.