The classical drama of Elektra was recreated through the spirit and language of Hugo von Hofmannsthal and through the limitless, manifold power of musical expression possessed by Richard Strauss. These two poets—of words and sounds—were really seismographs for the tidal wave of blood that was to overtake the world. We have come through the wave. We have seen mankind in the dungeon of its bestiality, we have witnessed its thirst for vengeance, its unlimited cowardice, its tormented anxiety. We have seen it, too, in its mute preparedness for sacrifice, its devotion to duty; or in its greed for life, now trampled on, now trampling, now doglike in devotion, now applauding the victor. We have known Elektra, Aegistheus, Klytemnestra, Orestes, Chrysothemis—we have encountered all of them, all the characters in this piece.