Salome

Music:

Member Since: 8/8/2007
Band Members: The Richard Strauss Operas (Main Page)

Cast:

Characters

Herod, Tetrarch of Judaea (tenor)

Herodias, his wife (mezzo-soprano)

Salome, his step-daughter (soprano)

Jochanaan, (John the Baptist) (baritone)

Narraboth, Captain of the Guard (tenor)

The Page of Herodias (alto)

Five Jews (four tenors, one bass)

Two Nazarenes (bass, tenor)

Two Soldiers (basses)

A Cappadocian (bass)

A slave (soprano/tenor)

The Music:

The role of Salome

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (with a few additions)

Salome is arguably the single most demanding soprano part on mainstream opera stage, incorporating an enormous vocal range with hardly any recess, not to mention (nude or semi-nude) choreography.

The vocal demands are the same as those of an Isolde or Brünnhilde , with the impossible demand that she should look and behave like a sixteen-year-old prima ballerina. Ljuba Welitsch, Birgit Nilsson, Montserrat Caballé, Anja Silja, Phyllis Curtin, Karan Armstrong, Teresa Stratas (on film), Dame Gwyneth Jones, Marisa Galvany, Catherine Malfitano, Karita Mattila, and most recently, Deborah Voigt are among the most memorable of the last half-century.

As for the title role's required vocal-range, it is an extraordinary case: The highest note is the high B - quite a high note, but not irregular for a soprano to sing (even for a mezzo) - while the lowest note is a low G-flat! (in the alto-range and officially below the standard range for a mezzo, not to mention a soprano) Considering this range, which is similar to many mezzo roles such as Carmen and Amneris, it doesn't require a really high soprano, does it? Well, it practically it does. Most of the relatively low sopranos who attempted this role found themselves straining their voices all through the opera, and when they finally reached the closing scene (the most important part of the opera, regarding the title role) they were too tired. This role is the classical example of the difference between tessitura and absolute range: While mezzos can here and there pomp a high note (like Carmen), or even sustain high tessitura for few bars (like Amneris) it is impossible for a singer to spend such a long time (with the needed strength and breath-control) in the second octave above the middle C unless she is a high soprano. Moreover, the low G-flat appears twice in the opera, and in both cases it is in pp, more of a theatrical effect than music and can be growled instead of sung. The other low notes required are not lower than low A-natural, and they are also quiet (unlike Amneris' or Carmen's low notes).

In the opera, the dance remains unnamed except in the acting notes, but Salome's sexual fascination with John seems to motivate the request—though Herodias is portrayed as pleased. The most famous music for the "Dance of the Seven Veils" comes from near the climax of the opera. The visual content of that scene (about seven minutes in length with standard tempi) has varied greatly depending on the aesthetic notions of the stage director, choreographer, and soprano, and on the choreographic skills and body shape of that singer. Near one extreme, the 2004 production starring Karita Mattila at the Metropolitan Opera made her surname the accepted New York term for changing the color of pubic hair to blonde because of the visual focus of the scene. At that extreme were various early 1990s productions (in London and San Francisco) starring American soprano Maria Ewing, who left hers black and clearly wore nothing.

Stage Performances: Dance of the seven veils Berlin 1990. Catherine Malfitano (Salome), Horst Hiestermann (Herodes). Conductor: Giuseppe Sinopoli

Dance of the seven veils

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Salome I beseech you Berlin 1990. Catherine Malfitano (Salome), Horst Hiestermann (Herodes), Leonie Rysanek (Herodias). Conductor: Guiseppe Sinopoli

Salome I beseech you

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Finale Berlin 1990. Catherine Malfitano (Salome), Horst Hiestermann (Herodes). Conductor: Guiseppe Sinopoli

Why did you not look at me, Jochanaan?

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