1/ We're going by premiere dates. On last night's double bill, IOLANTA was 1ered in 1982, and BLUEBEARD'S in 1918, turning the century. Richard Strauss's SALOME - 1905. It's based on Wilde's play, which takes the Gospel narratives of the death of the John the Baptist (here,
https://twitter.com/MetOpera/status/1326300275771052032
2/ "Iokanaan"), found in Mt 14:1-12 and Mk 6:14-29, and then asks, what if the idea of asking for Iokanaan's head as the price of her dance did not come from Herodias, but from the daughter herself, due to rapid-onset and ill-understood sexual passion?
3/ Btw, Josephus supplies us with the name of "the daughter of Herodias": Salome, and no matter how you pronounce it in Biblical studies, in opera we ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS pronounce it "SAL-o-may."
4/ Just as Wilde supplied lush, Biblical or faux-Biblical language for this story, Richard Strauss came alongside him in this and provided lush orchestration and soaring tunes, along with some dissonances, then quite experimental. just as he wd do soon after in his ELEKTRA,
5/ also coming up soon in these webcasts, and which is, like SALOME, a one-acter about an obsessed young woman - and great star-vehicle for a soprano who can handle it.
Karita Mattila certainly could, tho she may have been in her last Salome-capable years when this production
Karita Mattila certainly could, tho she may have been in her last Salome-capable years when this production
6/ was new and this vid was made. Also, fwiw, the days when sopranos entrusted with this role slipped behind the scenery and allowed a dancer to do the Dance of the Seven Veils are *over*, and Mattila does her own dance.
7/ See what you think about the mystical music that surrounds Iokanaan, i.e. John, esp. his entrance when Salome demands he be raised from his cistern. Most critics assert Strauss was a non-believer (true) and there4 this music must be mockery - which does *not* follow.
8/ Salome, Iokanaan, Herod, Herodias, "the Young Syrian" (in the opera given his personal name, Narraboth), the 5 Jews, the 2 Nazarenes - all these have their own musical language, suitable to who they are. Enjoy.
9/ NB The 1st Nazarene, who proclaims the Lord in the midst of Herod’s court, is sung by bass @MorrisDRobinson. The 1st time I heard him, which may well have been this, I was like, omg is that a bass or a gd thunder machine?
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