Unlike, to name a few, Elektra by Richard Strauss or  Iphigenie en Tauris and Iphigenie en Aulis  by Gluck (Orest  by Trojahn I leave out for convenience), which focus on only one episode from Aeschylos’ drama, Taneyev has chosen the entire trilogy as the subject for his opera.

We start with Agamemnon’s return from the Trojan War and end with the court of law summoned by Athena, which has to consider Orestes’ guilt and penance.

.John Singer Sargent Orestes Pursued by the Furies>

But before that happens, Agamemnon is murdered by his wife and her lover Aigisthos. Both are in turn killed by Orestes, who, with the help of his sister Electra, takes revenge for his father’s murder. In the last part, Orestes (driven to madness by the Furies pursuing him) seeks the help of Athena, after which the court case followes.

Teneyev worked no less than 12 years on his opera. After all, he was not a fast writer and composing was a real struggle for him. The result is at once overwhelming and alienating.

‘Oresteia’ is a very atypical work for a Russian, especially at that time. Whether that was the reason for its total oblivion I don’t know, of course, but it may have been.
There, where his contemporaries and compatriots kept their eyes tightly fixed on the homeland and its history, he diverted to Greek tragedy, not losing sight of the classical form either. Taneyev himself therefore called his work not an opera, but a musical trilogy.

Still: although the theme and its elaboration is very un-Russian, the music undeniably is very Russian. Just take the great aria of Cassandra, composed in the best Russian tradition. Her arioso with the ensuing chorus is one of the opera’s absolute highlights. Unintentionally, I am then reminded of Khovanshchina by Mussorgsky and the music he composed for Marfa.

Cassandra’s aria, here sang by Svetlana Sozdateleva

This impression is of course also reinforced by the fact that the libretto is written in Russian. This highly melodic language has its own musical rules.

Lawrence Rapchak: The Most Beautiful Melody Ever Written?

I do not know any of the singers (mentioned only by their surnames in the cast), but the performance is, as far as I can judge – it is quite difficult without any comparative material – definitely good.
The biggest impression on me was made by N. Tkachenko (Cassandra). Her soprano sounds quite sharp at times, but that’s okay, especially since she sings with so much feeling and commitment. Her great ˜vision aria” is totally heart-breaking. Goosebumps.

I. Dubrovkin (Orest) possesses a beautiful, lyrical tenor. His height is a little pinched at times and he sometimes screams rather than he sings. But in the quieter moments he sounds really beautiful. Matter of dimming down the orchestra a bit more?

Electra (T. Shimko) sounds pretty hysterical. I get that (somewhat), but her high notes are not always pure and I find her voice on the thin side.

I. Galushkina, a real Russian mezzo with lots of chest tones, sings Clytamnestra. Very impressive. Yet: in her conversations with Aegisthus (fantastic baritone A. Bokov) she also shows her fragile side. Bokov’s sound is very masculine and heroic, which makes Clytaemnestra’s infatuation really plausible.

V.Chernobayev (Agamemnon) disappoints me a bit: his bass is quite impressive, but does not sound vry clean and occasionally lacks the low notes.

The music is at times very cinematic, but I suspect there is much more to it than the orchestra of the Belarusian Bolshoi Theatre led by Tatyana Kolomijtseva manages to get out.

The 1965 recording sounds rather dull and veiled, and I would give much to be able to hear the work in a new, modern recording. For now, there is no choice. There is no libretto, but the synopsis gets you there – more or less.