Salomé by Gustave Moreau (1876)
Salome's Dance (aka "Dance of the Seven Veils"): The musicians begin to play a wild dance. SALOME, at first motionless, reaches up high and gives the musicians a sign. At once the wild rhythm is succeeded by a gentle, rocking melody. SALOME then dances the Dance of the Seven Veils. After a moment of apparent exhaustion she leaps up, as if newly elated. For a moment she lingers in a trance-like state by the cistern in which JOCHANAAN is held prisoner; then she rushes forward and lands at HEROD's feet.
Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Heinz Rögner, cond. Berlin Classics, recorded Feb.-Mar. 1977
Vienna Philharmonic, André Previn, cond. DG, recorded October 1992
New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond. CBS-Sony, recorded Oct. 12, 1965
Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. Decca, recorded 1960
by Ken
I see that I didn't actually identify the music we heard above. As I'm pretty sure you figured out, it's "Salome's Dance" (aka the "Dance of the Seven Veils") from Richard Strauss's Salome. Actually, we've already heard an assortment of performances of the "Dance" -- two weeks ago, as "a Salome bonus" to the post "Some out-of-this-world sounds from a singer who proves mistress of a surprising role," part of our still-ongoing remembrance of Montserrat Caballé, whom we were encountering as a (to me) surprisingly remarkable exponent of the title role, at least in the RCA recording conducted pretty remarkably by Erich Leinsdorf.
(I've been listening to two other Caballé Salome performances, one earlier and one later than the recoding, as well as the still-later recording of the Final Scene, and while some of the qualities I find so remarkable in the RCA performance can be glimpsed in other performances, none of them seem really in the same class.)
In the course of playing with some of my Salome materials I happened to glance, apparently for the first time, at the background essay on the opera which Michael Kennedy wrote for the booklet of the 1985 CD issue of the classic 1961 Nilsson-Solti-Decca recording, which looks to be quite an interesting piece, but in which my eyes lit on a string of words that kind of made my blood run cold. After writing at length about the shock that the opera had caused in its early years, he writes:
"Today we are not shocked by Salome . . ."
Huh??? We're not shocked by Salome??? Huh???
"DANCE FOR ME, SALOME"
In fairness, Kennedy goes on to say some quite sensible and interesting things about Salome:
Today we are not shocked by Salome but we are still stunned and astounded by the audacity and excitement of the score, the cunning way in which it depicts the depravity of its main characters and yet remains predominantly lyrical, with many passages of the utmost delicacy and restraint. Though scored for one hundred and five players, it sounds best when conducted -- as Strauss advised -- with a light hand. From the first notes of the clarinet which begin the opera (there is no prelude), we are transported into that strange Mediterranean night of over nineteen hundred years ago, with its full moon, its sultriness, its atmosphere of impending violence. Strauss seizes us by the throat at the outset and for the next one hundred minutes never lets us go.Sorry, but I still can't wrap my head around the idea that "today we are not shocked by Salome." And while I hate to be prescriptive about the effect a piece of art is "supposed" to have, in fact for me it's those special qualities Kennedy cites -- the musical audacity and excitement, the predominance of lyricism, that utmost delicacy and restraint -- which make the opera really shocking.
So I thought we might proceed by listening to "Salome's Dance" in context, including first the way the dance is negotiated between the Tetrarch and his presumably teenaged stepdaughter-niece and then just a bit of the post-dance haggling over the exact form of the agreed-upon price.
HEROD: Dance for me, Salome.
HERODIAS [vehmently]: I will not have it, that she dances.
SALOME [calmlly]: I have no desire to dance, Tetrarch.
HEROD: Salome, daughter of Herodias, dance for me!
SALOME: I don't want to dance, Tetrarch.
HERODIAS: You see how she obeys you.
THE VOICE OF JOCHANAAN: He will sit on his throne,
he will be clothed inscarlet and purple.
And the angel of the Lord will strike him down.
He will be gobbled up by worms.
HEROD: Salome, Salome, dance for me, I entreat you.
I am sad tonight, so dance for me.
Salome, dance for me! If you dance for me,
you can ask of me whatever you wish.
I will give it to you.
SALOME [standing up]: Will you really give me
anything I ask of you, Tetrarch?
HERODIAS: Do not dance, my daughter!
HEROD: Anything, anything that you ask of me,
even if it were half of my kingdom.
SALOME: You swear it, Tetrarch?
HEROD: I swear it, Salome.
SALOME: By what will you swear, Tetrarch?
HEROD: By my life, by my crown, by my gods.
O Salome, Salome, dance for me!
HERODIAS: Do not dance, my daughter!
SALOME: You have sworn an oath, Tetrarch.
HEROD : I have sworn an oath!
HERODIAS: My daughter, do not dance!
HEROD : Even if it were half of my kingdom.
You will be beautiful as a queen, beautiful beyond measure.
Ah! It is cold here. There is an icy wind blowing,
and I hear . . .Why do I hear in the air this rustling of wings?
Ah! It is just as if a monstrous black bird were hovering over the terrace.
Why can't I see this bird? This rustling is horrible.
There is a cutting wind. But not, it's not cold, it's hot.
Pour water on my hands; give me snow to eat;
loosen my mantle. Quickly, quickly,loosen my mantle.
But no! Leave it! This garland hurts me.
These roses are like fire. [He tears the wreath
from his head and throws it on the table.]
Ah! Now I can breathe. Now I am happy.
Will you dance for me, Salome?
HERODIAS: I will not have it, that she dances.
SALOME: I will dance for you.
[Slaves bring perfumes and the seven veils and take off SALOME's sandals.]
THE VOICE OF JOCHANAAN:
Who is this who comes from Edom,
who is this who comes from Bosra,
whose cloak is colored with purple,
who shines in the beauty of his garments,
who wanders mighty in his greatness,
why is your cloak stained with scarlet?
HERODIAS: Let us go inside.
The voice of this man makes me crazy.
I will not have it that my daughter dances
while he is always crying out.
I will not have it that she dances
while you look at her in such a way.
In one word: I will not have it that she dances.
HEROD: Do not get up, my wife, my queen.
It will avail you nothing, I will not go inside
before she has danced.
Dance, Salome, dance for me!
HERODIAS: Do not dance, my daughter!
SALOME: I am ready, Tetrarch.
Dance of the Seven Veils: The musicians begin to play a wild dance. SALOME, at first motionless, reaches up high and gives the musicians a sign. At once the wild rhythm is succeeded by a gentle, rocking melody. SALOME then dances the Dance of the Seven Veils. After a moment of apparent exhaustion she leaps up, as if newly elated. For a moment she lingers in a trance-like state by the cistern in which JOCHANAAN is held prisoner; then she rushes forward and lands at HEROD's feet.
HEROD: Ah! Splendid! Wonderful! Wonderful!
[To HERODIAS] You see, she has danced for me,
your daughter. Come here, Salome,
come here, you are to have your reward.
I will reward you royally.
I will give you everything that your heart desires.
What would you have? Speak!
SALOME: I would like that they quickly in a silver bowl . . .
HEROD: In a silver bowl . . .
exactly so, in a silver bowl. She is fetching, no?
What is it that you would like to have in a silver bow,
o sweet, beautiful Salome, you who are
more beautiful than all the daughters of Judea?
What are they to bring you in a silver bowl?
Tell me!
Whatever it may be, you are to receive it.
My royal treasures belong to you.
What is it that you would like to have, Salome?
SALOME [stands, grinning]: The head of Jochanaan.
HEROD No! No!
Gerhard Stolze (t), Herod; Grace Hoffman (ms), Herodias; Birgit Nilsson (s), Salome; Eberhard Wächter (b), Jochanaan; Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded October 1961
Jon Vickers (t), Herod; Ruth Hesse (ms), Herodias; Leonie Rysanek (s), Salome; Thomas Stewart (b), Jochanaan; Orchestre National de France, Rudolf Kempe, cond. Live performance from the (outdoor) Festival d'Orange, recorded July 14, 1974
Richard Lewis (t), Herod; Regina Resnik (ms), Herodias; Montserrat Caballé (s), Salome; Sherrill Milnes (b), Jochanaan; London Symphony Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf, cond. RCA, recorded June 1968
Kenneth Riegel (t), Herod; Hanna Schwarz (ms), Herodias; Catherine Malfitano (s), Salome; Bryn Terfel (b), Jochanaan; Vienna Philharmonic, Christoph von Dohnányi, cond. Decca, recorded Apr. 11-18, 1994
SOME NOTES ON THE PERFORMANCES
I think we can agree that this is a Herod-centric chunk of the opera (nestled here is that truly weird panic attack or whatever-that-is, and I've chosen performances accordingly. There are two traditional modes of casting: a "character" tenor, taking advantage of the role's flakiness; or a usually over-the-hill heroic tenor.
Our first two performances give us notably purer versions of both types. (1) Usually by "character" tenor we mean a light-to-negligible voice, which certainly doesn't describe Gerhard Stolze, who produced a voluminous sound of singularly penetrating, even piercing quality, which made an unforgettable effect in a number of roles, perhaps most notably the monstrous Captain in Wozzeck. And while I always wished for a more singing-like sound for Loge in Das Rheingold and Mime in Siegfried, now that he's gone I confess that I've come to miss him a lot.
It's a perfect sound and temperament for one kind of Herod: the all-out scary-pervy kind. When, at the end of the opera, this Herod, who is audibly as degenerate a personage as we are apt to encounter in any theatrical entertainment, judges his stepdaughter so monstrous that he orders her killed on the spot, we may be said to be getting an object lesson in pushing the limits of human degeneracy. (Since we're still engaged in our Caballé retrospective, I should note that she does some gorgeous work here.) We get something like the opposite effect with the Herod of Jon Vickers, who may have been past his best in 1974 but was a long way from washed up, and gives us a tetrarch of unbridled gregariousness -- a perv for sure, but an almost charming host who might be quite pleasant company if weren't so, you know, utterly depraved.
Richard Lewis, whom we've heard in many Gilbert and Sullivan assignments from Sir Malcolm Sargent's hallowed (here at Sunday Classics if nowhere else) EMI G&S series, is your more standard character-tenor Herod, but a really good one, and like just about everybody in the RCA Salome, he demonstrates an outstanding understanding of what the role asks of him. Finally, I chose the rather clinical Dohnányi recording, with its vocally overmatched Salome, principally for the Herod of Kenneth Riegel, who sang both principal- and character-tenor roles, and here offers what we might call a "school of Stolze" Herod. He's partnered by a well-above-average Herodias in Hanna Schwarz.
NOW LET'S JUMP BACK AHEAD TO THE FINAL SCENE.
IS THERE ANYTHING HERE NOT TO BE SHOCKED BY?
In last week's post, "After all, the Page in Salome does warn that horrible things are going to happen," we already took what I called "A QUICK LOOK AHEAD AT THE HORRIBLE THINGS TO COME," listening to four renderings of what I'm now calling a "concert version" of the Final Scene of Salome, starting later than I would and omitting the parts for Herod and Heriodias. Now that we're somewhat better prepared for this scene, we're going to hear two of those versions again, the commercial recordings by two of the last century's most notable Salomes, Ljuba Welitsch and Inge Borkh, now supplemented by the full scene in the commercial recordings by probably the most notable of post-Welitsch Salomes, Birgit Nilsson, and our unexpected champion, Caballé. Ultimately we're going to hear a whole bunch more versions by these Salomes, but the other versions will be not so much "better than" as "different from" these commercial versions. (The other concert versions we heard last week were by two Salome "ringers," Leontyne Price and Julia Varady, and I think you'll enjoy them if you just click through to that post.)
"Es ist kein Laut zu vernehmen"
SALOME [listening at the cistern]:
There is no audible sound. I hear nothing.
Why doesn't he cry out, the man?
Ah! If anyone came to kill me, I would cry out,
I would struggle, I wouldn't endure it!
Strike, strike, Namaan, strike, I tell you!
No, I hear nothing. There's a horrible stillness!
Ah! Something has fallen to the ground.
I heard something falling.
It was the sword of the executioner.
He's afraid, this slave. Send soldiers down!
[to the PAGE] Come here.
You were the friend of this dead man, no?
Look, I tell you: there aren't enough dead men.
Go to the soldiers and command them
to climb down there and bring me
what I demand, what the Tetrarch
promised me, what is mine.
[The PAGE draws back. SALOME turns toward the soldiers.]
Here, you soldiers, go down into the cistern
and bring me the head of that man!
Tetrarch, Tetrarch, order your soldiers
that they bring me the head of Jochanaan.
[A huge black arm, the arm of the executioner, stretches out of the cistern, bearing on a silver shield the head of JOCHANAAN. SALOME grabs it. HEROD hides his face in his cloak. HERODIAS fans herself and laughs. The NAZARENES sink to their knees and begin to pray.]
"Ah! Du wolltest mich nicht deinen Mund küssen lassen"
SALOME: Ah! You wouldn't let me kiss your mouth, Jochanaan!
Well, I will kiss it now!
I will bite into it with my teeth,
as one may bite into a ripe fruit.
Yes, I will kiss it now, your mouth, Jochanaan.
I said it. Did I not say it? Yes, I said it.
Ah! Ah! I will kiss it now.
But why don't you look at me, Jochanaan?
Your eyes, which were so horrible,
so full of rage and contempt, are closed now.
Why are they closed? Open your eyes then,
so lift up your lids, Jochanaan!
Why don't you look at me?
Are you afraid of me, Jochanaan,
that you won't look at me?
And your tongue, it speaks no word, Jochanaan,
that scarlet viper that spat its poison toward me.
It is strange, no?
How does it happen that this red viper stirs no more?
You spoke evil words against me -- against me,
Salome, daughter of Herodias, princess of Judea.
Well now! I am still living, but you are dead,
and your head, your head belongs to me!
I can do with it what I will.
I can throw it to the dogs, and to the birds of the air.
What the dogs leave over, the birds of the air will consume.
Ah! Ah! Jochanaan, Jochanaan, you were beautiful.
Your body was an ivory column on silver feet.
It was a garden full of doves
in the sparkle of silver lilies.
Nothing in the world was as white as your body.
Nothing in the world was as black as your hair.
In the whole world was nothing as red as your mouth.
Your voice was an incense dispenser,
and when I looked at you, I heard mysterious music.
Ah! Why didn't you look at me, Jochanaan?
You laid over your eyes the blindfold of one
who would look upon God.
Well, you have seen your God, Jochanaan,
but me, me you never saw.
Had you seen me, you would have loved me!
I thirst for your beauty. I hunger for your body.
Not wine or apples can quiet my desire.
What am I to do now, Jochanaan?
Not floods nor the great waters
can quench this burning desire.
Oh! Why didn't you look at me?
Had you looked at me, you would have loved me.
I'm sure of it, you would have loved me.
And the secret of love is greater than the secret of death.
HEROD [to HERODIAS]: She is a monster, your daughter.
I tell you, she is a monster!
HERODIAS: My daughter has done right.
I might now stay here.
HEROD [stands up]:
Ah! There speaks my brother's wife!
Come, I will no longer remain in this place.
Come, I say to you!
Surely something terrible will happen.
We will hide in the palace.
Herodias, I am beginning to tremble.
Manassah, Issachar, Ozias, put out the torches.
Hide the moon, hide the stars!
Something terrible will happen!
[The servants put out the torches. The stars disappear. A great cloud crosses over the moon and hides it completely. The stage becomes totally dark. The Tetrarch begins to climb the staircase.]
SALOME [faintly]: Ah! I have kissed your mouth, Jochanaan.
Ah! I have kissed it, your mouth,
there was a bitter taste on your lips.
Did it taste of blood?
No! But it tasted perhaps of love.
They say that love tastes bitter.
But what of it? What of it?
I have kissed your mouth, Jochanaan.
I have kissed it, your mouth.
[The moon breaks through again and illuminates SALOME.]
HEROD [turning around]: Someone kill this woman!
[The soldiers swoop down on SALOME and bury her under their shields. The curtain falls quickly.]
"CONCERT VERSION" NOTE: Our "concert versions" (a) begin at "Ah! Du wolltest mich" and (b) basically omit the parts for Herod and Herodias."
Concert version [from "Ah! Du wolltest mich"] Ljuba Welitsch (s), Salome; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded, Mar. 14, 1949
Concert version [from "Ah! Du wolltest mich"] Inge Borkh (s), Salome; Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, cond. RCA, recorded Dec. 10, 1955
Complete scene ["Ah! Du wolltest mich" at 2:05] Birgit Nilsson (s), Salome; Gerhard Stolze (t), Herod; Grace Hoffman (ms), Herodias; Vienna Philharmonic, Georg Solti, cond. Decca, recorded October 1961
Complete scene ["Ah! Du wolltest mich" at 2:06] Montserrat Caballé (s), Salome; Richard Lewis (t), Herod; Regina Resnik (ms), Herodias; London Symphony Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf, cond. RCA, recorded June 1968
STILL TO COME
If Salome no longer shocks us, does that mean Elektra doesn't either? In both cases I would argue -- will argue, or at least will try -- that if they don't, something has gone wrong in the performance chain, but that what's really going on for me is that in both of these extraordinary operas Strauss has given us such potent musical indications of how different life might be in the palaces of the Tetrarch Herod and the late King Agamemnon if not for all the craziness.
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