Here, I post my reviews and document my love of opera. I hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to comment on any of my posts or contact me if you wish to.
Have a nice stay!
David Buchler
All tagged Michaela Schuster
Based on Oscar Wilde’s original French play Salome, Strauss composed this opera to a German libretto and whilst there is indeed a 1907 French version, it is this German version that is performed so widely today.
Engelbert Humperdinck was born in 1854 and was recognised as a disciple of Wagner. His most famous composition was the opera Hansel and Gretel, which had its World Premiere in Weimar, Germany in 1893, under the baton of Richard Strauss. It was an overwhelming success and even to this day, the sugar-coated musical sounds are sweet to the ear.
If this is how the Royal Opera House is starting 2018, then we are in for a vintage year.
Oscar Wilde’s original French play Salome, translated into German all in one Act, is just under 2 hours of intense brutality and unyielding musical brilliance, built on a theme of eroticism and murder. It was first performed in Dresden in 1905 and Gustav Mahler himself wanted to conduct the opera in Vienna, but in fact the censors refused consent and did not relent until 1918. It was initially banned in London until performed at Covent Garden under the baton of Thomas Beecham in 1910.
