Strauss & 7 Veils (or, naked opera 1)

(an excerpt from the score of Salome, by Richard Strauss)

I found this video a year or two ago while looking at opera stuff on youtube.

Maria Ewing in Salome (the opera by Richard Strauss) 

at the Royal Opera House, 1992

It’s the second half or so of the dance. If you’re interested, you can check out the whole thing:

Maria Ewing, Dance of the 7 Veils from Salome

This performance got me kinda curious, as it’s actually not horrible, and I started looking for other Salome’s dances. From the videos I found, when there’s actual nudity it’s usually for just the final second, before Salome collapses and some people rush around her and cover her with a cloak or something. I can’t seem to find many of those videos online now. Maybe someone felt embarrassed by the bad choreography and had them removed.

Anyway, in the story this dance is supposed to be a seduction, part of a deal between Salome and her step-father, Herod.

(Hey kids, it’s bible-story time! Yay! ...seriously, the story comes from Mark, chapter 6)

He says if she dances for him, he’ll give her whatever she asks. Then she does this sexy dance and asks for the head of John the Baptist, who they have in the dungeon.

A major problem with the “Dance of the 7 Veils” is that it’s a lengthy (usually) solo dance for an opera singer. “Traditionally” opera has had a lot of stand-there-and-sing-and-look-dramatic type of performers. And I think it’s still often the case that opera singers aren’t necessarily great movers. There’s just not much emphasis on movement in their training, certainly less than in the training that actors, especially musical theatre actors, get.

So the “7 Veils” Dance often ends up being Salome running around a lot and acting “sensual” &/or distraught, taking off a “veil” or two, then more running and sensual/distraught-ess...maybe some slow “seductive” moves? Well, the full dance is about 9 minutes long. What the hell do you do with an opera singer for that long?

Tiziana Sojat as Salome (not sure where or when)

Sometimes it’s hard to tell if you just have boring choreography, or a really bad “dancer” doing what might otherwise be decent choreography. Or maybe you just have a non-dancer doing bad choreography invented by a non-choreographer.

So, if you have a soprano who doesn’t really move well, and who isn’t okay with taking her clothes off, you’ve got a problem. Back in the day, a lot of your big sopranos were exactly that: big sopranos. And as a friend of mine said, “Who wants to see Joan Sutherland naked?”

Well, this ain’t Dame Sutherland, but I suppose it’s pretty much the same:

Montserrat Caballe as Salome, Teatro de la Zarzuela de Madrid, 1979

Supposedly, in the original production, the soprano Marie Wittich (pictured here:)

wouldn’t do the dance, so it was done by a dancer. That might actually be a preferable situation for many productions. Recently there’s been more of a sexification of opera, and you’re seeing a lot more attractive “big” singers these days. (I’ll write more on that soon.) So, of course, if you have a singer who can handle the music and can move well and isn’t shy about taking her clothes off in front of an audience, then, by all means, go for it.

Catherine Malfitano as Salome, Berlin, 1990 (with Horst Hiestermann as Herodes)