Salome

I have a laser disc of the 1990 Deutsch Oper Berlin production of "Salome" which I bought in the mid-1990s (The photo above is the DVD version of the same performance). I watched it once and it's been on my shelf since then. Last night, I watched it again. (Yes, my LD player still works!) This time, I sat through the show at one go, fully riveted. This is sensational stuff. It's almost exactly 100 years ago that the opera was premiered in Dresden. But I could have sworn the music from its key scene, The Dance of the Seven Veils, was replicated in John Barry's score for James Bond in the early 1960s, in particular, for "From Russia with Love". It's also easy to see why this was banned and controversial in its time. New York held public prayers to save itself from the scourge of Salome. It's a one act opera with a striptease sequence and themes of incest and necrophilia. In this particular production, the singer also acted and danced as tirelessly as she sang. For the dance, a solo sequence of over 8 minutes long, she went all the way, as did the recent 2004 soprano in NY's Met production. It's still shocking for what we think of as a 'traditional' opera, and doubly so when we normally associate sopranos with elderly and weighty figures who don't move about much, not to mention moving with grace and sensuality.

And the music! Some wise-cracking critic said it's "all effect and no substance." (That's usually written by snobs who don't write music.) By some accounts, Richard Strauss was also a nasty money-minded miser. It's easy for such knowledge to colour our judgement. But watching and listening to it last night, I really couldn't care less what a pig Strauss was. This, I know, is brilliant stuff!

Chup