While cringing through the Berkeley Rep's premiere of Part II of the
"Oresteia" tonight, I kept thinking of the Strauss "Electra" - a rather
obvious thing to do as "The Libation Bearers" covers exactly the same
segment of the story, Orestes' revenge for the murder of Agamemnon.
(Although the opera spends much more time on the humiliation and prominence
of Electra than the play, and the original story - unlike the opera -
segues into "The Eumenides," as the furies descend on Orestes.

Berkeley Rep, which is presenting "Oresteia" to open its wonderful
new proscenium theater, made a terrible choice.  Even in Robert Fagles'
splendid translation, Aeschylus just doesn't work today, especially in a
dumb-literal production, without any imagination or illumination, and with
a cast of otherwise fine actors who operate here on high-school level.
(Not a very good high school at that.) "Agamemnon" was pretty bad, tonight
was simply awful.  Except for a few minutes of involving the audience
during the recognition scene, the whole business ranged from awkward to
embarrassing.

But think of "Electra" and how vital and "contemporary" it can be. The
obvious reasons are the natural meeting of Greek tragedy and opera as a
perfect genre, and Strauss at his most powerful. And yet, as it became very
clear tonight, there is one more factor, which doesn't get nearly enough
recognition.

Hugo von Hoffmansthal's libretto is a work of genius.  Not only does it
work hand-in-glove with the music, but somehow it both revises Aeschylus
in a major way and yet keeps his essence.  The libretto focuses on Electra
almost exclusively; the play's central figure is Orestes, including his
turmoil over what he must do.

Hoffmansthal fleshed out the text (incomplete as the Greek is) with
unforgettable words and phrases, illuminating the story.  Just one tiny
example:  Orestes "giving away" his identity by saying that his dog
recognized him, but his sister didn't.  The play's use of Orestes' hair
as the clue for Electra doesn't measure up to the librettist's simple,
memorable device.  A much larger issue is how Hoffmansthal's text rises
to great emotional climaxes ("helped" by the music, yes.J), while
"Chorephoroi" operates in a straight line, consistent, "classical," and
eventually monotonous.  I don't know if it was ever produced, but I am
convinced that performing Hoffmansthal's libretto, without the music,
would make a much better theater than the original play.

Check it out for yourself:

http://rick.stanford.edu/opera/Strauss/Elektra/libretto.html
http://lab.dce.harvard.edu/extension/clase116/libationbearers.html

Janos Gereben/SF, CA
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