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1962 production photo from Salome

Salome 1962

July 4 - 21, 1962

Witness the explosion of a willful princess…

… whose awakening sexuality erupts into passionate loathing and destroys the very object of her desire.  One of the Bible’s most powerful episodes depicting the rise and fall of evil is transformed by Richard Strauss and Oscar Wilde into an operatic tour-de-force that will haunt you with its shocking poetic and musical intensity.

Music By
Richard Strauss
After the tragedy By
Oscar Wilde
German Translation By
Hedwig Lachmann

Synopsis

Herod’s body-guard is gathered on the great terrace of the palace, outside the banquet hall where a feast is in progress. Narraboth, the young Syrian captain of the guard, glances ardently toward the hall where Salome is seated. In vain the Page warns him about the taint in this woman.

Suddenly, as if from a tomb, a dreadful voice is heard. It is Jochanaan, according to some a madman, by others hailed a prophet. He, it is, who calls upon the Tetrarch and his wife to forgo their evil ways. He has been captured and imprisoned in a cistern at the back of the terrace.

While the voice rings on the sultry night, Salome, tired of the banquet, steps onto the terrace. She knows the voice is that of the man who has accused her mother of murdering her father in order to marry his brother, the Tetrarch. In her stirs a guilty desire to see this man, and she pleads with Narraboth to bring him forth. The captain cannot resist her blandishments, although what she asks is forbidden, and Jochanaan slowly comes up from the cistern.

Salome, surfeited with all the pleasures of a depraved court, has only to see this strange figure to desire him. She tells him of her lust for his body, his hair, his mouth. Narraboth, in despair, kills himself on his sword, without a glance from the morbidly aroused Salome. Appalled by her wickedness, the Prophet curses her and goes back into the cistern.

Herod, followed by his wife, steps onto the terrace asking for Salome. He tries to satisfy his desire for the girl by asking her to drink from his cup and eat some fruit so that he may put his lips on the place her lips have touched. Salome is indifferent, her mother, Herodias, full of scorn “for the Tetrarch. Her scorn is aroused largely because Herod stands in mysterious awe of the Prophet Jochanaan, and will not give him up to the Jews for judgement. He may be, says Herod a holy man, and may even have seen God. This starts a doctrinal wrangle among the Jews present.

To quiet his misgivings and provide diversion, Herod asks Salome to dance for him. She refuses until he swears that he will grant any request she may make of him. Stripping her veils one by one from her body, Salome does a sensuous dance for the Tetrarch and his guests. Herod asks her to claim her reward. With vengeful passion she demands the head of the Prophet on a silver charger.

Horrified, Herod promises her all the treasures of his kingdom, but Salome insists on her demand, to the approval of her mother. Finally, the Tetrarch, weak with fear, gives in. The ring of execution is stripped from his nerveless finger. The executioner descends, while Salome flings herself on the cistern. Restlessly, she mutters that the executioner is taking too long. Perhaps he is afraid.

Suddenly the arm of the executioner thrusts from the cistern; the Prophet’s head held high on a silver dish. Seizing the grisly offering Salome addresses it as if it were alive. Living, the Prophet refused her his lips, now, in an ecstasy of passion she presses her mouth on his. Even Herod is revolted. “Kill that woman”, he commands, and his guards crush her beneath their shields.

Artists

Eleanor Lutton

Soprano

Salome

Theodor Uppman

Baritone

Jochanaan

Paul Franke

Tenor

Herod

Elaine Bonazzi

Elaine Bonazzi

Mezzo-soprano

Herodias

Stanley Kolk

Tenor

Narraboth

Judith Keller

Mezzo-soprano

Page

Catherine Christensen

Soprano

A Slave

Therman Bailey

Bass

First Nazarene

Edward Zimmerman

Tenor

Second Nazarene

Lawrence Boyll

Bass

Cappadocian

Lovell Horton

Actor

Naaman

William Wiederanders

Bass

First Soldier

John West

Tenor

Second Soldier/ Fifth Jew

Gerald Landon

Tenor

First Jew

Doyle Muller

Tenor

Second Jew

Thomas Page

Tenor

Third Jew

Carroll Alexander

Tenor

Fourth Jew

John Crosby headshot

John Crosby

Conductor

John Moriarty

Director

Henry Heymann

Designer

Costumes & Scenery

Louise Guthman

Lighting Designer