The sick moon
October 28, 2021 7:30 PM Subscribe
A couple of creepy/scary/uncanny classical pieces that don't tend to make it to the mainstream classical music halloween lists.
The finale from Salome where Salome kisses and and sings to the the head of John the Baptist. From the Richard Strauss opera based on the Oscar Wilde play. Some stagings get grosser than others - this one's a bit bloody but not too gory. (YT, 14:38. Text on screen) (CW: nudity)
Wolf Glen scene from Carl Maria Von Weber's Der Freischutz. Kaspar the Forester's soul, which he had sold to Samiel the Black Hunstman for magic bullets, is due the following day. He returns to the Wolf Glen at midnight to offer Samiel the soul of his romantic rival and hunting companion, who is due to arrive on the scene, to prolong the time of his own demise another three years. (YT, 15:04. Text on screen)
Bluebeard's Castle - Bartok's only opera, in one act (YT, 56:23. Text on screen)
The Seance scene from Menotti's The Medium, a two-act dramatic opera. (YT, 6:49. Text on screen). Full opera here (59:52).
(CW: parent mourning a child who has passed)(CW for full opera: a death via gun)
Two performances of Pierrot Lunaire - Arnold Schoenberg's expressionistic melodrama about a moon-drunk Pierrot contains a setting of 21 poems selected from Albert Giraud's 50 poem cycle. (YT, both about 40 mins. Text found here)
Title is taken from a line in Pierrot Lunaire and refers to both Salome and the Pierrot, who in their respective stories get stricken into a heightened/altered emotional and mental state by the moon.
Wolf Glen scene from Carl Maria Von Weber's Der Freischutz. Kaspar the Forester's soul, which he had sold to Samiel the Black Hunstman for magic bullets, is due the following day. He returns to the Wolf Glen at midnight to offer Samiel the soul of his romantic rival and hunting companion, who is due to arrive on the scene, to prolong the time of his own demise another three years. (YT, 15:04. Text on screen)
Bluebeard's Castle - Bartok's only opera, in one act (YT, 56:23. Text on screen)
The Seance scene from Menotti's The Medium, a two-act dramatic opera. (YT, 6:49. Text on screen). Full opera here (59:52).
(CW: parent mourning a child who has passed)(CW for full opera: a death via gun)
Two performances of Pierrot Lunaire - Arnold Schoenberg's expressionistic melodrama about a moon-drunk Pierrot contains a setting of 21 poems selected from Albert Giraud's 50 poem cycle. (YT, both about 40 mins. Text found here)
Title is taken from a line in Pierrot Lunaire and refers to both Salome and the Pierrot, who in their respective stories get stricken into a heightened/altered emotional and mental state by the moon.
I wonder if anyone has done a Titus Andronicus opera
posted by thelonius at 4:32 AM on October 29, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by thelonius at 4:32 AM on October 29, 2021 [1 favorite]
Really nice collection! The Bartok piece is a real gem here. Great staging. I was also struck by the Strauss and Weber.
posted by schmudde at 6:54 AM on October 29, 2021
posted by schmudde at 6:54 AM on October 29, 2021
When I was in high school (in the 90s), my best friend and I were the kind of "cool kids" (legends in our own mind) that "also liked to go to the opera sometimes". We would go on her parents season tickets one or two times a year.
Once it was Salome, and the lead actress stripped down to a body stocking during the dance of seven veils and everybody was visibly freaked out. The fella that played John the Baptist wore a loin cloth only in the final scene, with garishly obvious make up "accentuating" his pecs and abs.
At the curtain call, he got a standing ovation, presumably for his bravery in baring it all. The older lady (probably around my age now, existential sigh) next to us waggled her eyebrows at me and said "brahhhhhh-vooo-OH!" in a salacious way while cheering for him.
All I could think was... do these people not know about MTV's Spring Break?
posted by pazazygeek at 6:57 AM on October 29, 2021
Once it was Salome, and the lead actress stripped down to a body stocking during the dance of seven veils and everybody was visibly freaked out. The fella that played John the Baptist wore a loin cloth only in the final scene, with garishly obvious make up "accentuating" his pecs and abs.
At the curtain call, he got a standing ovation, presumably for his bravery in baring it all. The older lady (probably around my age now, existential sigh) next to us waggled her eyebrows at me and said "brahhhhhh-vooo-OH!" in a salacious way while cheering for him.
All I could think was... do these people not know about MTV's Spring Break?
posted by pazazygeek at 6:57 AM on October 29, 2021
I personally don’t give a damn and I suppose it doesn't matter in many WFH scenarios but the first link might need a NSFW warning for momentary opera-wiener.
posted by brachiopod at 9:36 AM on October 29, 2021
posted by brachiopod at 9:36 AM on October 29, 2021
Once it was Salome, and the lead actress stripped down to a body stocking during the dance of seven veils and everybody was visibly freaked out.
I don't know how anyone could go into Salome not knowing this one part of the story. Also, by the way, a number of sopranos (Catherine Malfitano comes to mind) made a splash by going fully nude onstage at the end of the Dance of the Seven Veils.
For me, the scariest opera is Britten's Turn of the Screw, particularly the "Ceremony of Innocence Is Drowned" duet between Peter Quint and Miss Jessel.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 10:03 AM on October 29, 2021 [2 favorites]
I don't know how anyone could go into Salome not knowing this one part of the story. Also, by the way, a number of sopranos (Catherine Malfitano comes to mind) made a splash by going fully nude onstage at the end of the Dance of the Seven Veils.
For me, the scariest opera is Britten's Turn of the Screw, particularly the "Ceremony of Innocence Is Drowned" duet between Peter Quint and Miss Jessel.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 10:03 AM on October 29, 2021 [2 favorites]
I'm very fond of the 1974 Karl Böhm / Teresa Stratas / Astrid Varnay production of Salome. I love Stratas' Salome, but I also love the costuming and design, all of which look like some bizzare episode of the original Star Trek.
And if you're looking for more beheadings, the 1985 DDR production of Siegfried Matthus' Judith, is on YouTube
posted by a Rrose by any other name at 10:58 AM on October 29, 2021
And if you're looking for more beheadings, the 1985 DDR production of Siegfried Matthus' Judith, is on YouTube
posted by a Rrose by any other name at 10:58 AM on October 29, 2021
That Salome is one of my all-time FAVORITES
…Ah! I have kissed thy mouth, Iokanaan, I have kissed thy mouth. There was a bitter taste on thy lips. Was it the taste of blood? Nay; but perchance it was the taste of love. They say that love hath a bitter taste. But what matter? what matter? I have kissed thy mouth.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 3:18 PM on October 29, 2021
…Ah! I have kissed thy mouth, Iokanaan, I have kissed thy mouth. There was a bitter taste on thy lips. Was it the taste of blood? Nay; but perchance it was the taste of love. They say that love hath a bitter taste. But what matter? what matter? I have kissed thy mouth.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 3:18 PM on October 29, 2021
The one opera finale that totally freaked me out was 'Dialogue of The Carmelites', but that was more cathartic than uncanny.
posted by ovvl at 12:43 PM on October 30, 2021
posted by ovvl at 12:43 PM on October 30, 2021
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posted by james33 at 3:32 AM on October 29, 2021