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Salome (1974) is a video recording of Salome (1905 Strauss), opera, with Karl Böhm (conductor) and Götz Friedrich (director).

Abstract

"Teresa Stratas never sang Salome onstage but she assumed the part in Götz Friedrich's 1974 Unitel film of the opera, with Böhm leading the Vienna Philharmonic. Friedrich had the singers record their roles in the studio and then lip-sync them for the cameras – a questionable practice that yielded good results. Unable to attend the main sessions, Stratas overdubbed the entire part. It's a gripping vocal tum, seemingly influenced by Welitsch's embodiment of Salome as a broken-hearted adolescent; here, too, the Princess sobs uncontrollably when Jochanaan refuses her. Then, at the immortal Wildean line ‘The mystery of love is greater than the mystery of death’ Stratas exudes a sinister calm: she begins with a beatific upward stare, then lowers her head and darkens her face at the prospect of death. Varnay, who created a wonderfully ghastly, cackling Herodias for the occasion, called Stratas's performance ‘a true document of what an intelligent singing actress can do in the full possession of remarkable gifts’."--Gramophone.

Cast

• Teresa Stratas = Salome
• Bernd Weikl = John the Baptist
• Astrid Varnay = Herodias
• Hans Beirer = Herod Antipas

• Wiener Philharmoniker (Karl Böhm, conductor)

Production

Produced in Germany (1974). Filmed in Vienna [Austria].

External links

• YouTube (full opera)
• [ The Internet Movie Database]