Klarinet Archive - Posting 000004.txt from 2008/02

From: "Daniel Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Salome at the Dallas Opera
Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:39:43 -0500

Scott Cantrell's review of the Salome in The Dallas Morning News doesn't
even begin to tell the sexual side of that opera. The necrophilial aspect of
the piece has to do with the orgasm that Salome achieves when in possession
of the head of John the Baptist. She is supposed to be about 16 years of
age. If you know what is about to happen to her, you can't miss it.

She croons, in German, "I have kissed your mouth, John... I have tasted your
blood." all the while she plays with the disembodied head, cut from John's
body by an executioner at her demand. And to get the head, she had to dance
naked before the king, her step father, who is hot for her. That's the dance
of the seven veils, which is supposed to leave Salome naked when the 7th
veil covering her body is finally taken off.

But there is a hilarious and true story about that scene.

In one production, the guy who played the role of John the Baptist was
neurotic about germs, so when he was not singing, he wore a small mask that
covered his mouth and nose, supposedly to prevent germs from being breathed
in.

At the first performance of that staging, some wiseguy got hold of the head
that was used for the scene where John is executed (below the stage,
supposedly in the dungeon). It was resting on a silver-colored platter,
covered by the kind of thing that you might see in a fancy restaurant when a
dish is brought to the table and then uncovered with dramatic flair. And
this wiseguy put a small medical mask over the nose and mouth of the head.

So now the scene occurs. Salome finishes her dance and is rushed offstage
so that she can sing the rest of the opera with clothes on. When she comes
back, her step father, the king, asks her what it is she wants for having
danced for him. He had promised here anything she wanted if she would dance
naked for him. (That's the incestuous part.) She says that she wants the
head of John on a silver platter. He says no, she says yes and finally she
beats him down.

So the executioner gos down to the dungeon, cuts off John's head and in a
splendid orchestral crescendo, the platter with the cover is shoved up from
the dungeon. You see the arm of the executioner holding the grisly package.
Salome takes the covered platter with the head on it, takes the cover off,
and there...

... is the clay head with the medical mask on it.

The soprano almost had a heart attack, either because she thought it might
have been the real head, or else she was laughing so hard that he couldn't
sing the final 15 minutes of the opera, which is entirely her big solo.
There she plays with the head, kisses it on the lips, etc., and has a
genuine operatic orgasm, the first of its kind by Strauss, and which caused
half the audience of women to faint during the first performance, perhaps
out of jealousy.

Supposedly, the mask stayed on the head for entire scene.

That's the funny side of the opera.

Dan Leeson
dnleeson@-----.net
SKYPE: dnleeson

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