I can't get over the chord at 8:54. The music sets you up to expect one thing, and then you get this dissonant, almost painful noise that reaches right down your throat and wrenches your heart out. That's when you know Salome has well and truly lost it. That chord is the sound of sanity collapsing.
The sound of the earth unhinged by WWI. The few returning home with their faces disfigured, melted apart. And looking into their nofaces and misty blind eyes - humanity grasped its inhumanity. Strauss wraps all the darkness of the human void in that sounds and then says: "alright folks have a good night thanks for coming out!"
Absolutely the most amazing portrayal of Salome ever. Completely mad and disconnected from this world. The Meryl Streep of opera. Oh, and the phenomenal voice. I remember when I saw this the first time over thirty years ago.
The tiny blossoming leitmotif when she sings "Nein! Doch es schmeckte vielleicht nach Liebe" before falling back into a sinister buzzing is pure genius. It may be weird but it's my favorite part of the opera.
The combination of Strauss's inspired music, performed by the great Vienna Philharmonic, and Teresa Stratas' incredible voice and acting was overpowering. This had to be the best Salome ever!
Stratas is a revelation. And a lyric soprano singing a part on film which is usually sung by bigger voices onstage. How I wish Strauss had rewritten some of that orchestration, Stratas' otherworldly silvery lines express Salome's youthful crazed whims so effectively.
I've heard this twice in the opera house and many times on record or during telecasts or RUclips videos. But, I waiting for the day when I shall experience even a SHADOW of this great, definitive performance by TERESA STRATAS! ♥♥♥♥
WOW!! This production with Stratas is the most iconic of all.This opera is probably the most underappreciated, undervalued and underperformed opera! An opera where Judaeo- Christianity meets Greek tragedy and hair raising Creepshow!
I don't know what to praise first. This opera is simply OUTSTANDING, and this scene in particular is breathtaking. As for the performances, Böhm-Stratas-Varnay... Three superb artists. UNMATCHED.
The tight close-ups enable the viewer to appreciate Stratass telling facial expressions in a way that would be impossible in an opera house... * * * * *
I love this film and the recording. I don't think it's been bettered. I really wish DG would release the music as a CD. It would easily be the finest recording available in that case.
Though I feel no one has sung the role better than Nilsson, Stratas’ transcendent acting coupled to her magnificent instrument must define this role. It couldn’t be done better.
I prefer Ljuba Welich to Nilsson though Nilsson is just in a clase by herself on anything she does. It's just that Welich captured the youthfulness and dementedness of Salomé perfectly.
4:57-9:19 is perhaps the most frightening thing I have ever seen or heard on film. Those deep bass chords separating each iteration of the Salome motive are profoundly disturbing. And Stratas perfectly embodies a girl who has crossed over from teenaged ennui and flirtatiousness, through obsessive, homicidal love into full-blown insanity. I think sometimes, in the opera fan's intense concentration on vocal matters, we are apt to forget that there is a woman on stage making love to a severed human head. No wonder the work was banned at the Metropolitan Opera after one performance. Absolutely repulsive, yet absolute genius.
It was banned damn near everywhere! 😂😂😂 Gotta' love Strauss for not giving a damn about the critics. It's that exact risk taking that's given us such a genius of a work! I even read that when this premiered in various theaters some people actually fainted when the severed head of Jochannan rose out of the cistern! 😂😂😂 I would love to transport back in time just to see that.
On recordings I don't know that you can beat Nilsson. But this video is truly amazing (I own it) and Stratas's characteriztion of a teenage girl is totally believable and her singing is glorious. Plus there's the extra bonus of Astrid Varnay wringing her hands beautifully as Herodias!
@BestAmateurViolinist Yeah, this is not a live operatic performance. It's a movie version of the opera and the audio was proably recorded in studio and then put in. There's been other opera that have been like this as well like Il Barbiere Di Siviglia and Rigoletto.
I remember seeing this the first time, and every time she gets to "das Geheimnis des Todes" and the remainder, I still shiver visibly....In some ways it's so scary because she has such a "girlish" voice, and then goes into that scary chest voice with a little gravel in it...and her sense of timing is extraordinary. By the way - I assume she never did it onstage, but does anyone know for sure?
Comparisons are "odorous" Skp... But, although it is not the most important criterion for success in this most demanding of roles, the enormity and lustrous power of Nilsson's voice in the house can never be conveyed by mechanical means...sadly.
Wonderful singing and terrific acting. I like a younger sounding, more lyric Salome (as much as I love the hefty dramatic Salomes). Stratas is great. Her terrifying mixture of innocence and cruelty is thrilling and credible. She sings this monologue in both a romantic and gloomy way, just ideal. Varnay is also terrific! Pity that this is a film, since the lip synching makes it somewhat less "real".
Stratas has been the most awsome Salomeof all. Nobody esle has managed to convey that cpmbination of evil and innocence at the same time as she has. And of course both vocally and dramatically she is amazing
I saw Maria Ewing do Salome at L.A. Opera in 1986 and she was mesmerizing and memorable in every possible way. Also Marvelee Cariaga was a brilliant Herodias. The late Peter Hall directed and Henry Lewis was the conductor. I sat close to the stage. A great night at the opera!
Where is her bathing cap gone? ----------------------------- Rolf, Netherlands. I am a collector of classical 78's and lp's Click "otterhouse" above to see (and hear!) some of my collection.
Is there anything in this world like the sounds she produces from 8:00 - 8:50..and people wonder why have to leave the room anytime these country/pop divas open their mouths!
@WiseMonkey888 who interestingly isn't even named in that source. we really know very little about her. we know her name because of Roman historians and that this thing allegedly happened. that's pretty much it.
Teresa Stratas, Astrid Varnay, Bernd Weikl are the artists. This version seems staged for a movie like display. Teresa may not be singing, don't know. Richard Strauss has written the opera of woman's struggles . The subtitles are great. In my opinion its universal drama set to music. The opera is available on Amazon.
The music is simply extraordinary. It is beautifully erotic. Even though this opera is superb as it is, I still wished that Strauss would have given Herodias an aria of her own. The singer-actress in this film gives an excellent interpretation of Salome's twisted mom.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but i believe this film is the only time Stratas performed Salome. For me that last passage between Herod and Herodias is the most scary piece of music in this opera - from 4:00 I'm a big Varnay fan, she is always great. Herodias is a hard role to judge a good voice though, bc it's too short and fragmented, no lines only comments and outbursts. More of a acting role. I believe I've heard a recording where Herodias was speaking her lines instead of singing them. Elisabeth Höngen it was.
In French, there is only the lovely part, as quintessential, there ie nothing as krakoï , in russian, or in german, but after kissing the mouth of very dead Jean Baptist as a pure necrophilic act, "qu'importe", what matter, if that is exactly that what thrilled, what is important to ME? Astonginng cultural dissonnance, astoning refjection of any differnece of perception of what is possible, of the encompassing divinity of the Universe using the humainity as the rule, rather than an easy predefined convention, mine convention?
Cheeee!! Faltó masa sonora!! Salomé es Richard Strauss, Postromanticismo, Gran gran orquesta, mucho metal!! No oí eso. Y los timbales?? Faltó orquesta!!
Agree...such much! But why regret that it is underperformed..? Now we will have monopoly :-) I value the Götz / Böhm / Stratas interpretation because it captures the neurotic quality of the religious and erotic obsession quinbessential... Slightly androgynous, silvery timbre and overwhelming dramatic sensibility.. In other words: I am seduced - big time! Who is your fav Salome?
elle chante (?) sur une bande son, son visage ne fait apparaître aucun effort, et je trouve que l'opéra perd là une dimension. La bouche est fermée pour les sons ouvert aigus, une forme de pléonasme sonore. Franchement non, je n'aime pas, d'autant plus que sa voix n'a jamais été celle du rôle. -Traviatta oui, Salomé non !
Wow. I simply can't believe this... Teresa Stratas has got to be the WORST lip syncher in the ENTIRE world! HOW could any self-respecting opera fan/fanatic give THIS 5 stars?? True, it DOES sound magnificent (and it does!) but... as a VIDEO, as a complete EXPERIENCE... it's completely horrid when it comes to the leading singers contribution! Even I could lip synch better!! I am, profoundly, disappointed with this video.... and to anyone henceforth- PLEASE! Keep your ears open but your eyes shut. Because, for so MANY instances, I simply can NOT understand why they would allow Ms. Stratas to comport herself thusly. It's an offense to what she SHOULD be doing, and to the role, and music, in general, IMHO.
I can't get over the chord at 8:54. The music sets you up to expect one thing, and then you get this dissonant, almost painful noise that reaches right down your throat and wrenches your heart out. That's when you know Salome has well and truly lost it. That chord is the sound of sanity collapsing.
Its a perversion of beauty just like the love of Salome
It's a dominant chord with scale degree 6 in the soprano and b6 in the bass.
The sound of the earth unhinged by WWI. The few returning home with their faces disfigured, melted apart. And looking into their nofaces and misty blind eyes - humanity grasped its inhumanity. Strauss wraps all the darkness of the human void in that sounds and then says: "alright folks have a good night thanks for coming out!"
Absolutely the most amazing portrayal of Salome ever. Completely mad and disconnected from this world. The Meryl Streep of opera. Oh, and the phenomenal voice. I remember when I saw this the first time over thirty years ago.
+hughman55 Except Stratas is embodying Salome and serving her role. The Meryl is too often a case of "Watch me ACT!"
I agree she is brilliant
the mistery of love is greater than the mistery of death!!! pure intensive philosophy.
The tiny blossoming leitmotif when she sings "Nein! Doch es schmeckte vielleicht nach Liebe" before falling back into a sinister buzzing is pure genius. It may be weird but it's my favorite part of the opera.
The combination of Strauss's inspired music, performed by the great Vienna Philharmonic, and Teresa Stratas' incredible voice and acting was overpowering. This had to be the best Salome ever!
This is some of the finest singing ever recorded, and on top of that dramatically astounding.
Stratas is a revelation. And a lyric soprano singing a part on film which is usually sung by bigger voices onstage. How I wish Strauss had rewritten some of that orchestration, Stratas' otherworldly silvery lines express Salome's youthful crazed whims so effectively.
Thanks for posting!
I've heard this twice in the opera house and many times on record or during telecasts or RUclips videos. But, I waiting for the day when I shall experience even a SHADOW of this great, definitive performance by TERESA STRATAS! ♥♥♥♥
WOW!! This production with Stratas is the most iconic of all.This opera is probably the most underappreciated, undervalued and underperformed opera! An opera where Judaeo- Christianity meets Greek tragedy and hair raising Creepshow!
Pure exaltation, pure happiness. It gets no better than this! And then a man cuts it short. Beautiful!
Could anyone help but feel that chill down their back watching this? absolutely fantastic performance
This opera was a complete shock when it was first played
Puccini called "that cacophonous thing"
But it was an instant success
This is fantastic!
I don't know what to praise first. This opera is simply OUTSTANDING, and this scene in particular is breathtaking. As for the performances, Böhm-Stratas-Varnay... Three superb artists. UNMATCHED.
amo este video
Jesus...gorgeous. Thank you so much for sharing.
The tight close-ups enable the viewer to appreciate Stratass telling facial expressions in a way that would be impossible in an opera house...
* * * * *
Magnífica. Uma interpretação de arrepiar. Todas as intenções, as expressões e os pianíssimos... Absolutamente maravilhosa. A Salomé perfeita.
Amazing!!!!
Truly wonderful!
The direction and the lighting were well thought out.
Brutally awesome.
I love this film and the recording. I don't think it's been bettered. I really wish DG would release the music as a CD. It would easily be the finest recording available in that case.
Gripping! Whoever played Salome was simply jaw-dropping. Brava!
Though I feel no one has sung the role better than Nilsson, Stratas’ transcendent acting coupled to her magnificent instrument must define this role. It couldn’t be done better.
I prefer Ljuba Welich to Nilsson though Nilsson is just in a clase by herself on anything she does. It's just that Welich captured the youthfulness and dementedness of Salomé perfectly.
4:57-9:19 is perhaps the most frightening thing I have ever seen or heard on film. Those deep bass chords separating each iteration of the Salome motive are profoundly disturbing. And Stratas perfectly embodies a girl who has crossed over from teenaged ennui and flirtatiousness, through obsessive, homicidal love into full-blown insanity. I think sometimes, in the opera fan's intense concentration on vocal matters, we are apt to forget that there is a woman on stage making love to a severed human head. No wonder the work was banned at the Metropolitan Opera after one performance. Absolutely repulsive, yet absolute genius.
It was banned damn near everywhere! 😂😂😂 Gotta' love Strauss for not giving a damn about the critics. It's that exact risk taking that's given us such a genius of a work!
I even read that when this premiered in various theaters some people actually fainted when the severed head of Jochannan rose out of the cistern! 😂😂😂 I would love to transport back in time just to see that.
Yep at first completely insane to triumphant also Herodias's reaction. She approves of Salome's necrophilla.
On recordings I don't know that you can beat Nilsson. But this video is truly amazing (I own it) and Stratas's characteriztion of a teenage girl is totally believable and her singing is glorious. Plus there's the extra bonus of Astrid Varnay wringing her hands beautifully as Herodias!
At 2:25 she makes sounds that are impossible to believe... truly beautiful!
AWESOME! Just look at her face when she sings "und das Geheimnis der Liebe is größer als das Geheimnis der Todes".
@BestAmateurViolinist Yeah, this is not a live operatic performance. It's a movie version of the opera and the audio was proably recorded in studio and then put in. There's been other opera that have been like this as well like Il Barbiere Di Siviglia and Rigoletto.
the last camera angle gives me chills.
Stratas is breathtaking, truly.
So sad and beautiful and wrong. It almost makes me want to cry.
The music is absolutely divine: chilling, luring, beautiful and disgusting in a way :)
Strauss ---> the God of opera.
Perfecta Astrid Varnay como Herodías
thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Impresionante final..
Mention plus que spéciale à partir de 7:30
Sensual. Passionate. Salome sings the song of a god that is not that of Jokannan. One that has failed her and leads to her doom.
Always thought she hated John but Strous is changing the story.
Oscar Wilde wrote the play and took numerous sources.
I remember seeing this the first time, and every time she gets to "das Geheimnis des Todes" and the remainder, I still shiver visibly....In some ways it's so scary because she has such a "girlish" voice, and then goes into that scary chest voice with a little gravel in it...and her sense of timing is extraordinary. By the way - I assume she never did it onstage, but does anyone know for sure?
Comparisons are "odorous" Skp... But, although it is not the most important criterion for success in this most demanding of roles, the enormity and lustrous power of Nilsson's voice in the house can never be conveyed by mechanical means...sadly.
wow😲
She is Salome...... 👍👍
Sensual. Passionate. Salome sings the song of a god that is not that of Jokannan. One that has failed her and leads to her madnnes and doom.
What a comment!
Indeed!
Wonderful singing and terrific acting. I like a younger sounding, more lyric Salome (as much as I love the hefty dramatic Salomes). Stratas is great. Her terrifying mixture of innocence and cruelty is thrilling and credible. She sings this monologue in both a romantic and gloomy way, just ideal. Varnay is also terrific! Pity that this is a film, since the lip synching makes it somewhat less "real".
Stratas has been the most awsome Salomeof all. Nobody esle has managed to convey that cpmbination of evil and innocence at the same time as she has. And of course both vocally and dramatically she is amazing
I saw Maria Ewing do Salome at L.A. Opera in 1986 and she was mesmerizing and memorable in every possible way. Also Marvelee Cariaga was a brilliant Herodias. The late Peter Hall directed and Henry Lewis was the conductor. I sat close to the stage. A great night at the opera!
Stratas forever!
yes.
Teresa Stratas is great Salome !
Thank you.
@Bassplyr1470
"Don Giovanni is comical"?!!!!...It sounds Lacanian, haha...
@eutuve
No estoy de acuerdo, porque yo tengo este en CD , dirigido por KARL BÖHM, signore Adamanto, y la orquesta está perfecta...
BravA.
Wow. How dramatic!
It is Varnay! What a delicious choice of casting, huh?
Please, Stratas is terrifying enough without a friggin bathing cap!
Is that Astrid Varnay as Herodias? Oh I love her.
Astrid Varnay is Herodias.
thats right
@papoocanada YES! It;s a dream cast...
The best Salome ever, on video, as she did not have the strenght to make it stand on the stage! Let us not forget that!
@DUANEMOSES Teresa Stratas - Canadian dramatic soprano of Greek origin.
The incredible Teresa Stratas...
@doctorw2
?????????
Have you ever seen "Don Giovanni"?
But interesting drama MAKES for a good story!
Where is her bathing cap gone?
-----------------------------
Rolf, Netherlands.
I am a collector of classical 78's and lp's
Click "otterhouse" above to see (and hear!)
some of my collection.
7:58 the final climax
Who is this wonderful singer and actress? She is truly wonderful! Unfortunately I don't see any related information.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_Stratas
Is there anything in this world like the sounds she produces from 8:00 - 8:50..and people wonder why have to leave the room anytime these country/pop divas open their mouths!
Stratas is right. If STRAUSS would have seen her, he would have loved her!
@WiseMonkey888 who interestingly isn't even named in that source. we really know very little about her. we know her name because of Roman historians and that this thing allegedly happened. that's pretty much it.
Teresa Stratas, Astrid Varnay, Bernd Weikl are the artists. This version seems staged for a movie like display. Teresa may not be singing, don't know. Richard Strauss has written the opera of woman's struggles . The subtitles are great. In my opinion its universal drama set to music. The opera is available on Amazon.
@scmc28 Um, "Salome" is not the story of a serial killer. ????!!!???
What do you mean?
The music is simply extraordinary. It is beautifully erotic. Even though this opera is superb as it is, I still wished that Strauss would have given Herodias an aria of her own. The singer-actress in this film gives an excellent interpretation of Salome's twisted mom.
She did Electra's moon too in a similar movie.
I have always thought the ending was a WTF moment.
I know you wrote this six years ago, but what did you think we should wait for? Cunnilingus with a severed head?
did I see Astrid Varnay as Herodias ?
Yep!
Nah, but would have been less drama :D. Got enough drama already :P.
8:54 is climax
Does anyone know if she is actually singing in this video? I'm curious
I mean I know it's her voice but is she lip syncing for the film?
Read the comment of MrOpera67 below...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but i believe this film is the only time Stratas performed Salome.
For me that last passage between Herod and Herodias is the most scary piece of music in this opera - from 4:00
I'm a big Varnay fan, she is always great. Herodias is a hard role to judge a good voice though, bc it's too short and fragmented, no lines only comments and outbursts. More of a acting role. I believe I've heard a recording where Herodias was speaking her lines instead of singing them. Elisabeth Höngen it was.
Who is signing ?
Who is conducting ?
Witch is the orchestra ?
It's a shame
any other operas like salome?
+The Grudge try Tosca.
+The Grudge "Elektra" (R. Strauss again) The one with Leonie Rysanek is often posted and it's done like a Fellini movie.
Elektra
@MrRunescapeEpic
then don't say things that suggest that you are
He should have just looked at her and she should have dealt with her mental problems and all could have been just fine...
Yes, but it doesn't make for a good story, does it?
In French, there is only the lovely part, as quintessential, there ie nothing as krakoï , in russian, or in german, but after kissing the mouth of very dead Jean Baptist as a pure necrophilic act, "qu'importe", what matter, if that is exactly that what thrilled, what is important to ME? Astonginng cultural dissonnance, astoning refjection of any differnece of perception of what is possible, of the encompassing divinity of the Universe using the humainity as the rule, rather than an easy predefined convention, mine convention?
Cheeee!! Faltó masa sonora!! Salomé es Richard Strauss, Postromanticismo, Gran gran orquesta, mucho metal!! No oí eso. Y los timbales?? Faltó orquesta!!
Agree...such much!
But why regret that it is underperformed..? Now we will have monopoly :-)
I value the Götz / Böhm / Stratas interpretation because it captures the neurotic quality of the religious and erotic obsession quinbessential... Slightly androgynous, silvery timbre and overwhelming dramatic sensibility..
In other words: I am seduced - big time!
Who is your fav Salome?
elle chante (?) sur une bande son, son visage ne fait apparaître aucun effort, et je trouve que l'opéra perd là une dimension. La bouche est fermée pour les sons ouvert aigus, une forme de pléonasme sonore. Franchement non, je n'aime pas, d'autant plus que sa voix n'a jamais été celle du rôle. -Traviatta oui, Salomé non !
Horrible, even for opera.
Wow. I simply can't believe this... Teresa Stratas has got to be the WORST lip syncher in the ENTIRE world! HOW could any self-respecting opera fan/fanatic give THIS 5 stars?? True, it DOES sound magnificent (and it does!) but... as a VIDEO, as a complete EXPERIENCE... it's completely horrid when it comes to the leading singers contribution! Even I could lip synch better!! I am, profoundly, disappointed with this video.... and to anyone henceforth- PLEASE! Keep your ears open but your eyes shut. Because, for so MANY instances, I simply can NOT understand why they would allow Ms. Stratas to comport herself thusly. It's an offense to what she SHOULD be doing, and to the role, and music, in general, IMHO.
Grow up.
Stephen Lagan This is not a drag competition. It's an opera-movie.
The world is filled with endless woe/ By witless fools who THINK thy know!
Relax