Salome (1974): Teresa Stratas, Bernard Weikl, Astrid Varnay, Hans Beirer, Wieslaw Ochman, Hanna Schwarz....Director Gotz Friedrich.. Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Conducted by Karl Bohm...Opera composed by Richard Strauss, libretto based on the German translation of Oscar Wilde's play.
"The Mystery of Love is greater than the Mystery of Death".......
This was a production made exclusively for Austrian TV in 1974. It was based on performances that were being shown at the Salzburg Festival at the time. The great post-World War II German Bayreuth Festival/Wagnerian conductor Karl Bohm was conductor for these performances and shared the title with the equally esteemed Herbert Von Karajan. The productions at this time ranged from Verdi (Il Trovatore) to Mozart (Don Giovanni) to Strauss, whose opera Salome was the most popular. Earlier, Bohm had conducted and recorded sopranos Leonie Rysanek and Gwyneth Jones in the title role of Salome. Karajan would mount a production of Salome a few years later in 1977 starring Hildegard Behrens.
But this was Teresa Stratas' turn and everything about this production revolves around her, made to fit her acting abilities which make up for her lack of true German/Wagnerian/Strauss category of dramatic voice. Stratas was a Greek-Canadian soprano who had never attained stardom until this Salome. She had sung mostly lyric soprano roles like Mimi in La Boheme and Violetta in Traviata. But early on, she attempted a variety of roles that were more modern and more demanding like Alberg's Lulu which she also recorded. Salome was the one role which must have truly challenged her vocally, for it is not suited to her category of voice. But she mastered the part thanks not only to her musicality but her dramatic acting skills. Hers is one of the few Salomes that is still considered one of the most convincing and most "young" sounding, appropriate to the part of the confused, passionate and crazy teenage Salome.
The performance in this film was not seen by any audience. What you see is a set with costumes, props and set design used in the Salzburg Festival performances at the time. The voices were pre-recorded and then added to the film. This was perhaps the only time Bohm experimented with film but Karajan took over filming productions at the Salzburg Festival.
As for this Salome, Bohm goes above and beyond in regards to casting. What drama comes out of these singers! The production may not be lavish nor interesting as other Salomes (like the one for the Covent Garden Salome with Maria Ewing or the Metropolitan Opera performances in the 60's with Birgit Nilsson which used Gustav Klimt art motifs and Oscar Wilde's Decadence period art. It's also not period-perfect like the rare Montserrat Caballe Salome which aired on Spanish television, also shown in the 1970's). This feels like a claustrophobic production, with everyone and everything bunched up together in what appears to be a cave (Herod's Palace has zero ostentation) under a prop moon. There is no sense of period either. The Jews of Herod's court look like Renaissance nobility or priests. Other figures in the court resemble toga-wearing Greeks, others Egyptian and Ethiopian. Perhaps this is to represent the Ancient World at the time of Jesus Christ but this doesn't seem to be very authentic to the period. Teresa Stratas physically looks like the most convincing Salome that was ever performed by any soprano. She is young, slender and her white body and her pretty face even has flashes of innocence. Of course, all this innocence seems to disappear once she becomes obsessed with John the Baptist. The scene in which she demands for his head on a silver charger is riveting. Yes, her Dance of the Seven Veils isn't quite what it should be. It is very slow (Bohm's pacing slows down only for this scene) and it has no trace of sensuality or conniving which is what it out to be (Salome had already made up her mind to ask for Jochaanan's head even before dancing). But it is death-like and mysterious, giving it an eerie feeling of foreboding. Stratas lives the part. She is vain, bloodthirsty, spoiled, petulant and passionate. Her famous last scene almost resembles a religious transformation, albeit a blasphemous one. Every pose and every dramatic gesture that Strataus provides us is dramatically alert and very realistic. She is a consummate actress and never goes over-the-top, which has been the fault of many sopranos in the role. Stratas may not have a big enough voice for Salome (Stratas was a lyric soprano) but she sails through the music with sweetness and ease, and is inclined to delve briefly into chest register for the more dramatic moments. Herodias, played by veteran Wagnerian soprano Astrid Varnay who herself had once sung Salome, is made up to look manly, obese and unattractive (like Herod's brother probably to remind us that she is the wife of his brother) but most likely to contrast with Teresa Strata's more youthful and pretty Salome. The Herod of Hans Beirer is right on the money as far as the fat, careless, decadent and lusty Dionysian Jewish king who lusts after his own step-daughter and who fears Jochanaan's connection to God. Bernard Weikl is a thunderous and very spiritual sounding Jochanaan and truly lives the role. Wieslaw Ochman and Hanna Schwarz portray palace security Narraboth and Herodia's page with real aplomb. They are good looking people and cast most likely because of these looks combined with their wonderful singing abilities. All in all, this is a terrific production but I wish they had stepped it up a notch by giving it more sensationalism, more intensity and more vulgarity in accordance to the once shocking and controversial subject matter. It's a production that relies on eeriness more than elaborate sensationalism.
"The Mystery of Love is greater than the Mystery of Death".......
This was a production made exclusively for Austrian TV in 1974. It was based on performances that were being shown at the Salzburg Festival at the time. The great post-World War II German Bayreuth Festival/Wagnerian conductor Karl Bohm was conductor for these performances and shared the title with the equally esteemed Herbert Von Karajan. The productions at this time ranged from Verdi (Il Trovatore) to Mozart (Don Giovanni) to Strauss, whose opera Salome was the most popular. Earlier, Bohm had conducted and recorded sopranos Leonie Rysanek and Gwyneth Jones in the title role of Salome. Karajan would mount a production of Salome a few years later in 1977 starring Hildegard Behrens.
But this was Teresa Stratas' turn and everything about this production revolves around her, made to fit her acting abilities which make up for her lack of true German/Wagnerian/Strauss category of dramatic voice. Stratas was a Greek-Canadian soprano who had never attained stardom until this Salome. She had sung mostly lyric soprano roles like Mimi in La Boheme and Violetta in Traviata. But early on, she attempted a variety of roles that were more modern and more demanding like Alberg's Lulu which she also recorded. Salome was the one role which must have truly challenged her vocally, for it is not suited to her category of voice. But she mastered the part thanks not only to her musicality but her dramatic acting skills. Hers is one of the few Salomes that is still considered one of the most convincing and most "young" sounding, appropriate to the part of the confused, passionate and crazy teenage Salome.
The performance in this film was not seen by any audience. What you see is a set with costumes, props and set design used in the Salzburg Festival performances at the time. The voices were pre-recorded and then added to the film. This was perhaps the only time Bohm experimented with film but Karajan took over filming productions at the Salzburg Festival.
As for this Salome, Bohm goes above and beyond in regards to casting. What drama comes out of these singers! The production may not be lavish nor interesting as other Salomes (like the one for the Covent Garden Salome with Maria Ewing or the Metropolitan Opera performances in the 60's with Birgit Nilsson which used Gustav Klimt art motifs and Oscar Wilde's Decadence period art. It's also not period-perfect like the rare Montserrat Caballe Salome which aired on Spanish television, also shown in the 1970's). This feels like a claustrophobic production, with everyone and everything bunched up together in what appears to be a cave (Herod's Palace has zero ostentation) under a prop moon. There is no sense of period either. The Jews of Herod's court look like Renaissance nobility or priests. Other figures in the court resemble toga-wearing Greeks, others Egyptian and Ethiopian. Perhaps this is to represent the Ancient World at the time of Jesus Christ but this doesn't seem to be very authentic to the period. Teresa Stratas physically looks like the most convincing Salome that was ever performed by any soprano. She is young, slender and her white body and her pretty face even has flashes of innocence. Of course, all this innocence seems to disappear once she becomes obsessed with John the Baptist. The scene in which she demands for his head on a silver charger is riveting. Yes, her Dance of the Seven Veils isn't quite what it should be. It is very slow (Bohm's pacing slows down only for this scene) and it has no trace of sensuality or conniving which is what it out to be (Salome had already made up her mind to ask for Jochaanan's head even before dancing). But it is death-like and mysterious, giving it an eerie feeling of foreboding. Stratas lives the part. She is vain, bloodthirsty, spoiled, petulant and passionate. Her famous last scene almost resembles a religious transformation, albeit a blasphemous one. Every pose and every dramatic gesture that Strataus provides us is dramatically alert and very realistic. She is a consummate actress and never goes over-the-top, which has been the fault of many sopranos in the role. Stratas may not have a big enough voice for Salome (Stratas was a lyric soprano) but she sails through the music with sweetness and ease, and is inclined to delve briefly into chest register for the more dramatic moments. Herodias, played by veteran Wagnerian soprano Astrid Varnay who herself had once sung Salome, is made up to look manly, obese and unattractive (like Herod's brother probably to remind us that she is the wife of his brother) but most likely to contrast with Teresa Strata's more youthful and pretty Salome. The Herod of Hans Beirer is right on the money as far as the fat, careless, decadent and lusty Dionysian Jewish king who lusts after his own step-daughter and who fears Jochanaan's connection to God. Bernard Weikl is a thunderous and very spiritual sounding Jochanaan and truly lives the role. Wieslaw Ochman and Hanna Schwarz portray palace security Narraboth and Herodia's page with real aplomb. They are good looking people and cast most likely because of these looks combined with their wonderful singing abilities. All in all, this is a terrific production but I wish they had stepped it up a notch by giving it more sensationalism, more intensity and more vulgarity in accordance to the once shocking and controversial subject matter. It's a production that relies on eeriness more than elaborate sensationalism.
