Opera Plots I - MDC Faculty Home Pages

Ægisthos. The Princess is seen in rags, having been thus reduced to degrading poverty by her
mother, who hates her and her gentle sister, Chrysosthemis, both of whom she compels to feed
with the slaves. Elektra longs to avenge her beloved fathers death by bringing her mother and the
infamous Ægisthos to justice; but her only hope is in the return of her lost brother, Orestes, who
had been sent away in early youth by the unprincipled Queen, for fear he should hamper her evil
designs. When Clytemnestra presently appears, a stormy scene ensues between the pair, and the
Queen is terrified when the Princess sternly foretells a disastrous end for her and her illicit love.
As the Queen departs Chrysosthemis enters with the news that Orestes is dead, this report having
been brought by a stranger; and full of despair that their brother therefore cannot be the avenger of
their father, Elektra entreats her sister to aid her in the slaying of the bad Queen and her lover. But
the gentle Chrysosthemis has no desire for revenge, and declares she cannot help in any such deed
of violence; and then Elektra determines to do the deed herself and produces the axe with which
her father had been killed. At this moment a strange man appears who announces to her that her
brother is indeed dead; but upon Elektra scornfully denouncing him for being yet alive himself to
bring the news of the death of the young Prince, for whom he should have been ready to give his
own life, the stranger, recognising her as his noble sister, in spite of her rags, reveals the fact that
he is none other than her brother, Orestes, himself. Overjoyed at his return Elektra entreats him to
avenge their fathers death; and Orestes enters the chamber of Clytemnestra and her lover,
Ægisthos, and slays them both. All rejoice at the death of the tyrannical pair, and the young Prince
Orestes is brought forth in triumph amidst general acclamations. Elektra, in her exultation,
performs a marvellous dance of triumph, which waxes ever wilder and more passionate, until at
last she drops lifeless as the curtain falls.
153. FEUERSNOT
A Lyric Poem Opera in One Act By Richard Strauss
Libretto By Ernest con Walzoger
First Produced Weimar, October, 1902
Chief Characters Diemuth, Kunrad, Iorg Poschel, Kunz Gilgensloch, Tulbeck, Hamerlein
THE story is based upon an old Dutch legend, and the action takes place in Munich, in the
mediaeval "no-time "age, on Midsummer Night, when the lighting-up of the " Johannis Fires" is
about to be celebrated. The children of the town are merrily collecting wood and fuel for their
bonfires, and they finally come to the "Wizards House." Here they find a young dreamerphilosopher,
Kunrad, who, suddenly realising that he has missed the real meaning of life and
wasted his time by indulging in abstruse study and thought instead of making practical use of
everyday life and things, determines at once to mend his ways. He therefore gives the children his
books to burn, and helps them to cut down the shutters for their fires; and a crowd of curious
spectators soon gather to gaze upon the handsome young recluse, whom they have never had the
chance of seeing before. Amongst the spectators is the Burgomasters beautiful daughter, Diemuth,
who gazes upon the stranger with unusual interest. Kunrad, never having experienced any earthly
passion before, is seized with an overmastering love for the fair maiden and, suddenly seizing her
in a tender embrace, kisses her passionately. Diemuth, however, though still enthralled by the spell
of the handsome stranger, is now filled with indignation at the liberty he has taken, and determines
to play a trick upon him as a punishment. When, therefore, he later on appears beneath her