Richard Strauss - Elektra

In 1903, Richard Strauss attended the world premiere of Hofmannsthal's tragedy 'Elektra' in Berlin and was immediately enthusiastic: "When I first saw Hofmannsthal's brilliant poem at the Kleines Theater in Berlin with Gertrud Eysoldt, I probably recognized the brilliant opera text and the tremendous musical intensification until the end." 'Elektra' was the beginning of a long-standing collaboration between Richard Strauss and the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal, who wrote a total of six libretti for the composer. The one-act opera was unusually richly orchestrated with 111 musicians required and is regarded as the pinnacle of Strauss's operatic oeuvre. The premiere at the Zurich Opera House in 2003 in the production by Martin Kusej and under the direction of Christoph von Dohnányi, one of the best Strauss conductors, was frenetically celebrated by the audience.