Salome-SD-2012-e

 

Spo-fans (the depraved ones anyway) have wanted for years for me to disclose some of my dark side. They long to go into the dankest corners of my cranium to see the lurid, licentious, and vile desires of Urs Truly.  The Board of Directors Here at Spo-Reflections would sooner eat rats at Tewkesbury than have it so, but this one slipped the censors – probably because they don’t find anything dirty or wrong with severed heads.  I hope the satiates some appetites. Now lay off. 

Whenever I am down in the dumps I merely have to turn on a recording of “Salome” by Richard Strauss and this invariably cheers me up. This is quite morbid as there is nothing cheery about the opera. Far from it! Salome is the most depraved, disturbing ninety minutes of pathology I can think of. I suppose it is the operatic equivalent of watching a really trashy reality TV family doing stupid awful things and shuddering at the delight of their depravity – all set to absolutely gorgeous music (mostly in E-flat).

For thems who don’t know the tale, “Salome’ is based (albeit loosely) on the Bible story of a young princess named Salome who dances for King Herod, who foolishly promises her anything as a reward. What she ask for is the head of John the Baptist. Trapped by his oath he obliges her. This minimal outline allows the reader to wonder what on earth were they thinkin; it certainly allowed Richard Strauss to come up with a humdinger of a sordid story. There is no intermission but 90 minutes nonstop degenerate depravity set to chromatic music (oh how jolly!).  Just about every character is disgusting or a psychopath,  ranging from the superstitious wicked old screw Herod who lusts after his niece Salome to Salome herself, who seems to have snapped a tether by play’s end.  All she wants really is to kiss the prophet on the mouth. When she doesn’t get her way, she dances the dance of the seven veils and Herod creams his pants. She demands John’s head and there is no changing her mind not for love or money.  The executioner is called and you think that would be the end of things, wouldn’t you?

The executioner presents Salome with the head of John.

Someone needs to explain to me why the executioner is naked. 

The ‘highlight’ is after she receives mentioned head on a silver platter. She proceeds to roll around on the stage in a delusional ecstasy making love to the nasty thing. She has achieved her goal:  kissing him on the mouth.  King Herod has her promptly smashed to death for the sake of the community.

Needless to say when this scrumptious piece came out it caused a lot of scandal. Letters of outrage were written to the press and a boycott was called for and it became a hit. Since its debut the opera has never lost popularity. It isn’t done too often as it is a bitch to do for the star soprano has to sing nearly nonstop for ninety minutes while behaving in a most unlady-like manner. Sometimes the dance of the seven veils ends in the nude, so you can imagine.

Although there is not a drop of homosexuality to Salome, the opera comes across as quite ‘gay’.  It has always been a favorite among the Opera Queens. Perhaps it is the Rocky Horror Picture Show elements that make it alluring, or the obsession with body parts; perhaps it is her passion for a man so intense she goes nutters and can’t see straight (pun intended). Who knows.

“I want to kiss you on the mouth!” I sometimes say to Someone. He  usually runs away or reaches for any nearby defense weapon.

So there you have it. My dime novel delight is revealed for all the world to know.

Here isa clip of the finale. It’s a splendid watch but if you are in a hurry, fast forward to ~ 6.00 minutes and watch the last three minutes why don’t you.