Elektra

Quick Facts

• Written between 1919-1920 for orator and small orchestra
• Incidental music for the P. C. Boutens‘s translation of the ancient Greek tragedy by Sophocles; later arranged into an orchestra suite
• Commissioned by the adult education institute (Volksuniversiteit) of The Hague

About the Piece

• Elektra was Diepenbrock’s final composition.
• Diepenbrock, who was himself a skilled interpreter of classical languages, strongly disliked Boutens’s translation and ended up adapting the translation before the premiere, much to Boutens’s chagrin.
• The piece stands in sharp contrast to Richard Strauss’s Elektra, which premiered about a decade earlier. Diepenbrock’s interpretation of the tragedy is more musically restrained while still being emotionally charged.
  • The composer noted, “The interesting thing is that extreme means are never employed to render the highly dramatic material.”¹

1. Bas van Putten, notes in accompanying booklet, Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orch., 2000-2010 performed by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Claus Peter Flor, RCO 12004, 2012, compact disc.