How does polytonality create separate layers in Richard Strauss’s Elektra?

In Richard Strauss’s opera Elektra, polytonality is used to create distinct layers by grouping instruments and voice parts so that each layer defines a different tonality or key.1

While these simultaneous keys create a sense of separation, they are not entirely independent; in Elektra, these layers can also be interpreted as complex aspects of the work's underlying basic key. This technique functions as a form of counterpoint where the harmonic movement remains rooted in a tonal system, even as Strauss employs overlays of dissonance to differentiate the musical textures. Unlike later atonal works where such concepts lose their traditional meaning, the polytonal layers in Elektra remain separable from the composition's fundamental harmonic structure.12