I am writing this after my first experience with viewing a video offering by Opera is ON, the streaming service offered by San Francisco Opera (SFO), which was first launched on May 9. Every Saturday at 10 a.m., SFO presents a video of a past production that may be viewed without charge until the end of the following day. The offering for this weekend is Richard Strauss’ one-act opera “Salome,” whose production was shared with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and the Opéra de Montréal.
I was just beginning to build up my writing chops when I saw the opening performance of this production on October 18, 2009. At that time my “beat” with Examiner.com was Classical Music Performance; and there was another Examiner for opera. I took advantage of that “division of labor” by using this site to reflect almost entirely on the character of Herod, rather than accounting for the full scope of the opera.
The fact is that there is far more that can be accounted for in a good presentation of this opera than can be packed into a single article. One can begin with Strauss basing his libretto on a faithful adaptation of the one-act play written by Oscar Wilde, translated into German by Hedwig Lachmann. Then one can do a deep dive into just about every character, particularly when one is experiencing the efforts of a stage director (Seán Curran for this particular production) doing the same. In this case that perspective is particularly applicable to the Page of Herodias (a contralto role sung by Elizabeth DeShong), who tries to dampen the passions of Narraboth (tenor Garrett Sorenson) for Salome (soprano Nadja Michael) at the very beginning of the opera. The Page does not sing very much after that opening duet, but it seemed as if Curran never neglected her and the strain of her bearing witness to everything else that unfolds in the scenario. On the instrumental side there was Music Director Nicola Luisotti, giving just as much attention to the rhetorical intensity of the soft passages as one would expect him to deliver in the loud ones.
Indeed, from a narratological point of view, Strauss’ opera is probably filled with more critical plot-based details than one is likely to find in Wilde’s script. That last paragraph only begins to scratch the surface of the full landscape of those details. As a result the management of the orchestra is as critical as the challenges that a conductor will encounter in performing a symphony by Gustav Mahler, which demands a clear understanding and expression of just where the “highest peak” of the score’s many climaxes actually occurs.
Nevertheless, in the interest of giving credit where credit is due, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the impressively high quality of the video direction by Frank Zamacona. If Curran never overlooked the significance of the Page throughout the opera, Zamacona had the wisdom to allow us to see this character, even as a figure in the background. He also deployed an impressive variety of camera angles (including one from above), always in the interest of finding a point of perspective consistent with both the narrative and the music. Finally, I have to say I was delighted that, when the curtain descended and the applause began, Zamacona took that time to have a camera observe Luisotti thanking individual members of the orchestra.
Nicola Luisotti thanking the SFO Orchestra at the conclusion of “Salome” (screen shot from the video being discussed)
I suppose the primary “take-away” from this attempt to document my impressions of the morning is that this particular video account presents the viewer with far more than could be experienced from even the best seat in the War Memorial Opera House.
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