Synopsis

Scene 1:  Orestes, son of Agamemnon, accompanied by his friend Pylades, returns to Argos from more than a decade of exile to avenge his father’s death and reclaim his rightful place on the throne (‘You who guide the dead’).  He places a ritual lock of hair upon Agamemnon’s tomb and voices his regret that he was away when his father returned home from the Trojan War and was killed by his own queen, Klytemnestra.  Suddenly, the two men hear the approach of a Chorus of mourning women.  Orestes recognizes his sister Elektra in the procession, but he and Pylades withdraw to observe the women in secret.

Scene 2:  The Chorus of enslaved Trojan women enters, accompanied by Orestes’ sister Elektra.  They bring propitiatory libations for Agamemnon’s tomb on Klytemnestra’s orders, for she has been having nightmares and hopes that these belated sacrifices will calm them.  Elektra and the Chorus offer prayers and lamentations (‘Have pity on me,’ ‘Send forth a flowing tear’) and pour the offerings onto the grave.

Scene 3:  Elektra notices the lock of hair which Orestes has placed upon Agamemnon’s tomb, but assumes that Orestes has sent it there from far away.  Upon rising, however, she sees footprints on the ground which look just like her own, but are not hers.  She barely dares to hope that her exiled brother may have returned, but then Orestes steps out of hiding and reveals himself to her.  Their recognition of one another prompts a joyous duet (‘O beloved treasure’).  Orestes reveals that the god Apollo has decreed that he must kill his mother, Klytemnestra, and her lover Aegisthus in vengeance for Agamemnon’s murder.

Scene 4:  Kommos.  The Chorus initiates a series of ritualistic prayers and recollections (‘O noble Fates’) designed to apprise Orestes of the horrors which his father suffered and stir him and Elektra to action.  Orestes and Elektra begin by lamenting the deceased king but are soon stirred to a bloodthirsty frenzy.  With the Chorus, they cry out to Agamemnon for his aid as the music builds to a climax.  By the conclusion of the kommos, all breathlessly expect the ghost of Agamemnon to rise from his grave.  But Agamemnon does not appear, and his children are left to act on their own.

Orestes asks why Klytemnestra sent the libations to Agamemnon’s tomb.  The Chorus Leader (‘I know why, for I was there’) informs him that Klytemnestra has dreamt that she gave birth to and nursed a vicious, blood-drinking serpent.  Orestes interprets the dream with himself as the snake, and decides that it means he will indeed succeed in killing Klytemnestra.  He quickly plans to approach the palace in disguise so that he and Pylades can gain entrance without being recognized.  Elektra goes inside immediately, and the Chorus sings of the convergence of Fate and Justice (‘The anvil of Justice’).

Scene 5:  Orestes and Pylades knock at the door of the palace.  Their pounding is answered by a Slave, and they are immediately greeted by Klytemnestra, who offers them hospitality.  Orestes introduces himself as ‘Daulieus, from Phocis,’ and relays the false message that Orestes has died in exile.  Klytemnestra feigns extreme sorrow, and Orestes and Pylades are admitted into the palace as the Chorus sings of the treachery they will soon work (‘O noble earth’).

Scene 6:  Orestes’ aged Nurse enters and tells the Chorus that Klytemnestra has dispatched her to fetch Aegisthus, so that he may hear the news of Orestes’ death.  The Nurse sinks into a reverie and recalls the tender care she bestowed upon the infant Orestes (‘A baby cannot speak’).  The Chorus asks the Nurse to tell Aegisthus to approach the house confidently, without his customary bodyguards, and hints that Orestes is not actually dead.  The Nurse, mystified, leaves to deliver her altered message.  The Chorus prays for divine aid (‘Hear us, O gods who are our allies!’).

Scene 7:  Aegisthus, Klytemnestra’s lover and the de facto king of Argos, enters.  He, too, voices feigned regret over the supposed death of Orestes but insists that he must question the visitors himself to know that the story is true.  He enters the palace as the Chorus sings of the destruction about to take place (‘Now the edges of axes’).  Aegisthus’ death-cry is heard offstage, and the frightened Slave rushes out of the palace to raise the alarm.  Klytemnestra emerges, and at the Slave’s panicked cry ‘I tell you the dead now are killing the living,’ she immediately perceives that Orestes has returned for vengeance and calls for an axe.  Orestes appears and confronts his mother, but hesitates to kill her.  Pylades reminds his friend of the god’s decree, and Orestes drags Klytemnestra into the palace to kill her atop Aegisthus’ body.  The Chorus sings of the triumph of Justice (‘Justice came to the sons of Priam’).

Scene 8:  Orestes appears over the bodies of Klytemnestra and Aegisthus and calls on the Sun to witness the justice of his actions (‘Hold it out in a circle’), but laments that he himself has now been stained by the family’s curse.  Suddenly, his mind is overtaken, and he begins to see visions of the Furies, the avenging deities who now pursue him on Klytemnestra’s behalf.  The Chorus, who cannot see the Furies themselves, try to reassure Orestes, but he desperately rushes away to seek purification at Apollo’s sanctuary at Delphi.  The Chorus is left alone to reflect upon the sufferings that have plagued the House of Atreus across the generations (‘Three times now the violent storms’).

Libretto