patrikpen: Sex and Blood in Jerusalem in Music and Vision 30 Giugno

mercoledì 16 agosto 2017

Sex and Blood in Jerusalem in Music and Vision 30 Giugno

Sex and Blood in Jerusalem

GIUSEPPE PENNISI reports on the
new production of 'Salome' in Leipzig

I saw and heard the much-awaited premiere of the new production of Salome in Leipzig on Saturday 17 June 2017. The theatre was full and the audience dressed up.

As I wrote on 21 November 2014 about a new staging of the opera in Naples, productions of Salome tend to fall between two stools. Firstly, decadent stage setting and acting — it seems that Strauss picked up the subject after admiring a Gustave Moreau painting.

'L'Apparition' (1874-6), a watercolour painting by Gustave Moreau (1826-1898) which shows Salome dancing in front of Herod, with a vision of John the Baptist's head. Click on the image for higher resolution

Secondly, a Hollywood 'peplum' movie of the fifties — William Dieterle's 1953 film Salome with Rita Hayworth as the protagonist and with a curiously happy ending, namely the conversion of the Princess to Christianity.

Poster for the 1953 film 'Salome', directed by William Dieterle and starring Rita Hayworth, Stewart Granger and Charles Laughton. Click on the image for higher resolution

This production avoids both traps. Stage director Aron Stiehl, 'Rosalie' (the art nickname of the creator of the sets and costumes, who died two weeks before the premiere), and lighting designer Michael Röger set the action in present-day Jerusalem. Ulf Schirmer and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra provide all the fire required for a sex and blood tragedy.

A scene from 'Salome' by Richard Strauss at Leipzig Opera. Photo © 2017 Kirsten Nijhof

The seven veils dance provides a psychological background that explains Salome's perversion. She had been raped as a child, and this has an impact on her behavior. She cannot accept the 'normal love' of Narraboth (Sergei Pisarev, a very good tenor with a clear timbre and a strong volume) and she develops a sexual passion for Jochanaan (the powerful baritone Tuomas Pursio). Jochanaan himself is not a chaste prophet; he lets Salome masturbate him in the main courtyard of Herodes' royal palace. This causes Narraboth to commit suicide.

Elisabet Strid as Salome and Tuomas Pursio as Jochanaan in 'Salome' at Leipzig Opera. Photo © 2017 Kirsten Nijhof

On his own account, Salome's father Herodes (Michael Weinius, a high register tenor with a strong volume) is a Palestinian chief who has good relations with the Israelis: not only (following the libretto) are four elderly traditional Jews his guests, but Israeli soldiers are in and around his palace for his protection. His wife Herodias (Karin Lovelius) is just a perverted middle-aged woman who wants to please her daughter in any possible manner. The palace borders the Western or Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.

Michael Weinius as Herodes and Karin Lovelius as Herodias in 'Salome' at Leipzig Opera. Photo © 2017 Kirsten Nijhof

Oscar Wilde's tragedy and Richard Strauss' one-act opera, on a libretto by Hedwig Lachmann, were conceived at the time when Sigmund Freud was starting to develop psychoanalysis in Vienna. This molds the production more than decadent atmosphere or old peplum movies. The protagonist is Elisabet Strid, a dramatic Swedish singer who began her international career in 2010. She is a Wagnerian soprano who has already performed at the Bayreuth Festival and at several major opera houses in Europe and America. She has a powerful voice and handles Strauss' dissonances very well. She is sexy (almost a requirement for the role) and acts quite well.