Munich Opera Decision
 

I need help reaching a decision.
The question: Do I want to acquire tickets (my cost) to a performance of Richard Strauss' opera Electra at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. (I have been to a performance there before.)

I will be in Munich in the 3rd week of September before coming home, and I have the chance to attend this opera. It is an unknown quantity to me, totally. So, I am asking for some ideas before making the decision: Go or no go.

I am sure that someone in Fodors Land knows the opera well enough to give me some insights. I would appreciate any information, comments, criticisms, etc. that will help me decide.

To help put the situation into perspective: I like some operas a lot.

My big favorites are Carmen, La Traviata, La Boheme, Turandot, Aida, Il Trovatore, la Nozze de Figaro, Tales of Hoffman, and, on the lighter side, Die Fledermaus and Die Lustige Witwe. Cav, Pag, Martha, the Barber of Seville, Manon, Manon Lescaut, Rigoletto, Masked Ball, and Faust rank a notch lower on my value scale. I haven't yet re-graduated to Wagnerian fare (long story there), nor have I acquired a taste for works like Wozzek and the Rake's Progress. (And Butterfly remains on my no no list after seeing it 6 times in one season.)

Thanks for your comments and assistance.
I have a few days to consider; the Karten Vorverkauf (pre sale)starts in July.

Who is singing in the main roles?

That is indeed part of the problem. I don't know the European singers very well. These are the ones listed:

Klytymnestra Jane Henschel
Elektra Gabriele Schnaut
Chrysothemis Inga Nielsen
Aegisth Wolfgang Neumann
Orest Alan Held
Pfleger des Orest Karl Helm

Who is conducting?

I see that no R. Strauss appears on your list of favorites. Although RS is much more "accessible" than Wagner to me - if only because of the latter's long-windedness - he may still be an aquired taste for you. I adore Rosencavalier but am not crazy about Salome. Still, what's the alternative? If it's a movie, a longer dinner, or an evening of TV, I'd say GO! Face that unknown quantity!

For whatever good it does, Peter Schneider is conducting. I never heard of him either. So does that help answer the question? I.e. I am still trying to figure how it adds to the ability to answer my inquiry. I figure it doesn't.

Nope, never learned to like Richard Strauss' music. Well, perhaps Til Eulenspiegel and Ein Heldenleben.
Thus Spoke Zarthrustra fizzles after the opening World Riddle Theme gets done with its promise of greater things to come rather than lesser.
It was great for showing off London Phase 4 Stereo and the latest snob appealing speakers and amplifiers back in 1963 when musical poseurs vied for one-upsmanship. (What you don't have a Shure V15 model XG1 cartridge with a diamond tip? How inferior and gauche.)
And I never worked up an appetite for
Death and Transfiguration - Tod Und Verklaerung.
The Alpine Symphony to me is a cacophonous excursion into arcane polyphony complete with wind machine and 4f crescendos. Perhaps it is theoretically marvelous and sophisticated, but I never learned to like it. When I got to the mountain top I still felt like I was lost in the thicket and the brush.
Der Rosenkavalier is not an opera I have stumbled into in my travels. I have heard it on the Met broadcasts but I never felt compelled to buy a copy.
And my favorite mezzo of all time used to sing the role of Count Octavian, too.
But, hey, its me that is doing the listening. And at $100 per seat, do you mind if I am a little selective??
And so far, my selectivety has made little progress.

At that price you can afford to be selective. May I suggest, though, that you listen to Vier Letzte Lieder (Schwartzkopf) to give R. Strauss another chance. All in all, I venture to guess that you will not enjoy Elektra.
Here are two other ideas: check out the schedule of www.staatstheater-am-gaertnerplatz.de when they get September posted, or go to I Puritani at the Bayerische on Sept. 21.

If you don't like most of the Strauss tone poems (I don't either) I don't think you will enjoy Elektra. It is a remarkable work, a miracle of orchestration, but not very accessible at first hearing. It is not melodious like Rosenkavalier (no melting waltzes!) or indeed the later Strauss operas in general. I have listened to it on CDs and attended a concert performance by the Chicago Symphony with Barenboim and excellent singers; it was an experience but I am not sure I would do it again. As for the Munich cast, I recognize four names; they are good veteran performers, esp. Schnaut, though not of the first rank. The same is true of Schneider.
Who is your favorite mezzo--Christa Ludwig?