Uploaded December 2015 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
2015 Humanities Day Keynote Address
University of Chicago
October 17, 2015
When it premiered in 1909, Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s one-act opera Elektra—an adaptation of Sophocles’ tragedy—was a musical and dramatic shock. Over a hundred years later, the piece remains wrenching and confounding. But how so? In this talk, we will explore an especially astonishing production of Elektra in order to explore what it tells us about the piece and the possibilities—and responsibilities—of interpretation.
David Levin is the Addie Clark Harding Professor in the Departments of Germanic Studies and Cinema and Media Studies, and Theatre and Performance Studies; he is also Director of the Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry.
If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to humanities@uchicago.edu.
2015 Humanities Day Keynote Address
University of Chicago
October 17, 2015
When it premiered in 1909, Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s one-act opera Elektra—an adaptation of Sophocles’ tragedy—was a musical and dramatic shock. Over a hundred years later, the piece remains wrenching and confounding. But how so? In this talk, we will explore an especially astonishing production of Elektra in order to explore what it tells us about the piece and the possibilities—and responsibilities—of interpretation.
David Levin is the Addie Clark Harding Professor in the Departments of Germanic Studies and Cinema and Media Studies, and Theatre and Performance Studies; he is also Director of the Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry.
If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to humanities@uchicago.edu.
