Which opera features Iatra consulting a mystical object to find out whether or not Poseidon is cheating on her? What is the name of the object which Iatra consults for her advice?

toughynutter

Richard Strauss's seldom-staged 1928 opera, 'Die Ägyptische Helena,' Is the opera "Diana Damrau, as the sorceress Aithra, who is pining for her absent lover, Poseidon" http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F03E2DA1F31F934A25750C0A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print "Her omniscient clam (or mussel, although "mussel" and the German "Muschel" are not the same; the latter refers to the entire phylum of Mollusca, not just the class of Bivalvia" http://carlson.erwinroots.net/ so a clam by the name of "Muschel" or from the first link "Then there is the peculiar role of the Omniscient Mussel. The creators conceived it as a towering oyster with a hidden contralto voicing the creature's magical pronouncements. Here the oyster is a simple sea conch containing the various potions that make characters either forget or recall their past, depending upon the needs of the lurching plot. The earthy mezzo-soprano Jill Grove sings the mussel's music, dressed like a doppelgänger, a phantom in black for Act I, and in white for Act II. " It is An oyster to be percise. Apr 01 07, 10:28 AM

tragic_flawed

wow- good job Apr 01 07, 3:31 PM