Cassandra

In Greek mythology, Trojan daughter of Priam and Hecuba. Loved by the god Apollo, she was promised the gift of prophecy in return for her favours, but rejected his advances after receiving her powers. Her thwarted lover cursed her prophecies with disbelief, including that of the fall of Troy.

Cassandra was eventually captured at the sack of the city, ravished by Ajax Oileus (Little Ajax), and awarded as a prize to Agamemnon; the pair were later murdered by his wife Clytemnestra.

Cassandra

Opera by Vittorio Gnecchi (libretto by L Illica), first produced at the Teatro Comunale, Bologna, Italy, on 5 December 1905. In 1909 the Italian critic Giovanni Tebaldini created a sensation by pointing out that Strauss's Elektra, which did not appear until that year, contained passages strikingly resembling Gnecchi's music.