As someone who spends most of his professional life in Greek drama
(my scholarly specialty) but for whom fin de siecle Vienna is a side
interest, and opera a great love, I think I can weigh in on this subject.
Hofmanstahl may have been aiming, officially, at Sophocles, but his
aesthetic-- and that of Strauss -- is fundamentally Euripidean; ironic,
with a somewhat bizarre clash between beauty and violence.  Don't worry
about plot, Janos, but think about the aesthetic.  Euripides contrasts
gorgeous choral odes with his debased heroic culture, so prone to
gratuitous violence.  It's so Straussian.  One of these days I'll get
around to writing an article on this.  It's a heck of a lot easier to
see if you know Greek!

I'll gladly converse with anyone in detail about this, but offlist.

Robin Mitchell-Boyask <[log in to unmask]>