ELECTRA. Although Hugo von Hof mannsthal possesses no original genius, he is the most musical of poets who in recent times have contributed to the drama in German. His power of verbal expression, rather than his dramaturgic skill or his understanding of char acter, entitles him to praise. A Viennese, he is an wsthetic cosmopolite. In (Venice Pre served> he has reworked the English tragedy of Otway and in (Electra' and (CEdipus and the Sphinx' the Greek tragedies of Sophocles, embroidering his models with fresh details and intensifying passion. His reversion to the Greek was inspired by the presentation at the Burg Theatre in Vienna of ./Eschylus, trans lated into German by Wilamowitz-Mollendorff, and by the suggestion of the critic Paul Schlen ther that modernplaywrights should render classic themes in a free fashion. 'Electra' ap peared in 1903; and in 1908, in the version of Arthur Symons, it was played in English with Mrs. Patrick Campbell in the title role. It has also served as the libretto for an opera by Richard Strauss.
The piece is in one act and dispenses with the classic chorus, partly because this would be counter to our stage conventions, and partly because it would detract fjom the lyrical fervor of the individual characters. The Sophoclean
story of Electra's yearning for the return of her brother Orestes to whom she may confide the task of avenging her mother's murder of her father is repeated, with the weakness of her sister Chrysothemis, the appearance of Orestes as a messenger come to announce his own death, and his slaying of his mother, Clytemnestra, and her paramour, IEgisthus. Von Hofmannsthal, however, has made no effort to achieve the noble dignity of the Greek. Instead, he has sensualized Electra, whose lust for vengeance on her guilty mother becomes hysterical and insane. Hatred, she says, has been her bridegroom ; curses and despair have been her children. When Orestes finally•slays his victims, Electra dances in very ecstasy of joy. As an American critic, Mr. W. P. Eaton, has remarked: °Pity and fear are not aroused by von Hofmannsthal's play, but curiosity and horror. The emotions are not purged, but scraped, irritated, made to shiver and creep.D The best account of von Hofmannsthal is Dr. August Kollmann's monograph in German (1907) ; he is discussed in English by Elizabeth Walter in 'Poet Lore' (1915), and by Ashley Dukes in 'Modern Dramatists' (1912).