Elektra, Op.58:

Richard Strauss, Birgit Nilsson, Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Sir Georg Solti

You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to post this.  Not just this section of Strauss’ opera, but this exact recording.  It’s been months of me trying different ways to get this obscure recording to convert correctly so I could share it.

AT LAST.  This is the piece that defines musical frisson for me.  This piece gives me full-body chills, cruel and wracking, almost to the point of blindness.  This piece has kept me awake at night.  This piece has haunted me for about five years, ever since the first time I saw “Elektra.”

Elektra, Op.58: “Orest!”
Richard Strauss, Birgit Nilsson, Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Sir Georg Solti  

Libretto: Hugo von Hofmannsthal

Es rührt sich niemand. O lass deine Augen
mich sehn! Traumbild, mir geschenktes
Traumbild, schöner als alle Träume.
Hehres, unbegreifliches, erhabenes Gesicht,
o bleib bei mir! Lös nicht
in Luft dich auf, vergeh mir nicht, vergeh mir nicht,
es sei denn, das ich jetzt gleich
sterben muss und du dich anzeigst
und mich hollen kommst: dann sterb ich
seliger als ich gelebt.

There is no one stirred. O let me
gaze upon you! Dream, gifted to me
Vision, more beautiful than any dream.
Noble, incomprehensible, sublime face,
O remain in me! Dissolve not 
Away in air, do not pass away, do not Fade!
But haply cam’st thou hither, bidding me 
To follow thee straightway,
To Hell? Then die I 
More blessed than I lived.