Richard Strauss’ Salome
1905

There are three main bass clarinet excerpts in Salome: rehearsal markers 172, 189, and 314. While this piece is by no means a standard bass clarinet excerpt, it’s not unusual to see it come up on an audition for the bass clarinet spot in an opera orchestra. These moments aren’t really solos, but they are difficult– think of this as akin to asking for Daphnis et Chloe on an audition. Your part may not be audible in context for most of the excerpts, but it is probably one of the more challenging pieces you’ll see in an orchestra, and including it on the audition list weeds out a lot of nervous would-be applicants. 

It is important to note that, much like the bass clarinet parts of Wagner, Strauss writes his bass clarinet parts in so-called German notation. This means that the part is written in bass clef in the actual sounding octave of the instrument. When you see a treble clef section in these parts, you should play it up an octave from normal bass clarinet notation, so that it is once again sounding in the octave written on the page. Strauss also uses the bass clarinet in A but much more rarely than Wagner did, and the bass clarinet part for Salome is exclusively for Bb bass clarinet. 

Also like Wagner, Strauss uses a variety of leitmotifs throughout the opera. These are short musical ideas that represent characters, objects, events, or feelings in such a way that the audience can often make inferences about the past and future of the opera. You can watch a good explainer on the leitmotifs within Salome by clicking here. 

Salome is the biblical tale of the titular character, the stepdaughter of King Herod. The king has captured John the Baptist, an important prophet of Jesus, and holds him captive. John is relatively rowdy and spends a good deal of the opera shouting strange prophecies from the bottom of a well. Herod forbids anybody from speaking with John, as he is essentially a political prisoner. Salome sweet-talks Narraboth, the captain of the palace guard, into bringing John to her, and she is completely smitten with the prophet as soon as she sees him. Narraboth wanted Salome for his own, and, this being opera, he melodramatically kills himself as soon as he realizes that Salome has fallen for John. Herod enters the room, slips in Narraboth’s blood, and soon begins hallucinating. He sees Salome and, in his stupor, entreats her to dance for him, promising to give her anything she wants. Salome performs her infamous “Dance of the Seven Veils,” in which she slowly removes all of her clothing. When the dance is over, she demands the head of John the Baptist. Herod tries to resist but ultimately must hold up his end of the bargain. When Salome is given the severed head, she confesses her love for John and passionately kisses his (now very dead) lips. Disgusted, Herod orders his stepdaughter killed by the palace guards, and the opera ends. 

Was that plot a bit much? Don’t worry– the first audiences of the opera could not agree more. Strauss spent many years trying to get Salome off the ground, fighting censors and wealthy patrons along the way. Some places did stage productions of it early on, but it was barred in Vienna until 1918, and its American premiere ended abruptly after only one performance, with the next Metropolitan Opera production of Salome taking place 27 years later. 

Another unusual aspect of Salome is that the “Dance of the Seven Veils” is often performed by a dancer and not the person singing Salome. This tradition goes all the way back to the premiere, when soprano Marie Wittich refused to do the sensual dance, and a body double was found to stand in for her. To add to the intrigue surrounding the opera, many Salomes have opted to be actually nude onstage for the conclusion of the dance, while others have chosen to wear body stockings to make themselves look naked from a distance. While not a traditionally-staged production, this video is a good example of the amount of dancing required for the role.

Below, I’ll discuss some popular excerpts from Salome in more detail and provide transposed parts for these sections. Click here to see the full bass clarinet part for Salome.

Rehearsal 172

Click here for a transposed and corrected part

This section is marked in the score as dotted half note equals 80 bpm. It’s a tutti passage, so the bass clarinetist in the orchestra need not shed too many tears over the beginning of the section. Indeed, some poor soul must have either complained to Strauss about it or embarrassed himself in rehearsal, because the asterisk above the fourth measure of 172 has the following note: “If the bass clarinetist is not excellent, they can leave out this section until two measures after 173.” 

Strauss does some unusual rhythmic things here. Essentially, he changes the meter for the bass clarinetist rather than write out the oddball rhythms he wants from the instrument. Throughout this section, there should be two big beats per measure (either half notes or dotted half notes), and they always stay the same speed; namely, 80 bpm. In the measure before 173, the bass clarinetist is the only musician with a cut time designation. Be sure that your half notes line up with the two beats per measure given by the conductor or the metronome, and you’ll be on track.

There are a few errata in this part. Firstly, the measure two before 173 should end with a half note, not a dotted half note. This rhythm is correct in the score. Also, the second measure after 173 should not end with the quarter rest that’s shown in the part; that rest should not exist. The cut time designation lasts for three measures, so the rest doesn’t fit in the measure. This error is also fixed in the score. The transposed part I created has both of these errata fixed. 

This excerpt is from “Salome, komm trink Wein mit mir,” an aria for King Herod, a tenor role. The aria occurs as he descends into his brief madness and lusts after Salome, his stepdaughter. Here’s an excerpt of the lyrics from the beginning of the aria, which starts right at rehearsal 172: 

Pour me some wine!

Salome, come drink wine with me, a delicious wine.

Caesar himself sent it to me.

Dip your little lips in– your little red lips– then I will empty the cup.

It makes sense that Strauss would make this section hectic and a little discombobulated, considering that Herod isn’t exactly thinking clearly. As I mentioned, the bass clarinet is the only voice in cut time, so I would project your sound a little bit here to add to the hubbub. 

If I were playing this in an orchestra, I would make sure to start and end the runs in the first five measures at the right time and just try to maintain the key for the runs. However, the bass clarinetist is almost a soloist starting at the cut time, so do your best to play this section accurately. The moving notes aren’t too fast at the correct tempo, so this should be doable. 

In an audition situation, make sure you emphasize the meter change at the cut time by putting agogic accents on the two beats of that measure. This will help the committee follow the shift. Be absolutely certain that you keep a steady tempo of 80 bpm across this change. If your bass clarinet has one, you should use the left pinky key for the low Ab at the beginning of the meter change. Many people are hesitant to use this extra key, but trust me, it’s worth getting used to, as it saves you the trouble of sliding between keys in passages like this one. Be careful to maintain consistent sound quality and a continuous diminuendo as you cross the break in the last measure. This should go without saying, but don’t break the slurs to take a breath in an audition. I would probably breathe before the cut time measure in an actual performance, as the rest of the ensemble will cover your breath and it will help you anchor your meter change with a strong downbeat, but avoid this in front of a committee.

Rehearsal 189

Click here for a transposed part

This passage comes from Scene 4, as Herod and his wife Herodias are discussing the fate of John the Baptist. Herodias wants to be rid of him, while Herod doesn’t want him to hand him over to the Jews, John’s own people, because he will surely be killed as a blasphemer. Herod seems to know exactly what he doesn’t want to do with John, but he doesn’t have ideas about what he should do instead. Here are some lyrics from this scene to help you understand the context:

HEROD (THE KING)
He didn't say anything against you. Moreover, he is a very great prophet.

HERODIAS (HIS WIFE)
I don't believe in prophets. But you, you are afraid of him!

HEROD 
I am not afraid of anyone.

HERODIAS 
I'm telling you, you're afraid of him. Why don't you hand him over to the Jews who have been yelling at him for months?

FIRST JEW
Truly, Lord, it would be better to give him into our hands!

HEROD 
Enough of it! I won't put him in your hands. He is a holy man. He is a man who has seen God.

FIRST JEW
That cannot be. No one has seen God since the prophet Elijah. It was him who last saw God face to face. In our days, God does not show himself. God hides. Therefore, great evil has come upon the land.

SECOND JEW 
In truth, no one knows if Elijah did indeed see God. Possibly it was only the shadow of God that he saw.

THIRD JEW 
God is never hidden. He shows himself at all times and in all places. God is in bad as well as in good.

When this excerpt begins, you are playing in unison with the celli. They drop out halfway through the sixth measure of reh. 189, on the beat before your forte-piano dotted half note. They join you for the first beat of the next measure, and then you are once again alone in the orchestra. Although you’re the only one playing this part for much of the excerpt, you’re not really a solo voice. There are quite a few musical ideas happening here, and the “First Jew” is practically screaming overtop of you as well. In an orchestra, play this part confidently, but remember that the spotlight isn’t on you. If anybody notices you in this section, you’re probably doing something wrong. 

As for an audition situation, try to bring out the agogic accents in this part, especially in the last two bars. Be wary that an audition committee doesn’t hear the eighth notes as downbeats. I would personally lift a little between the slurs to give this more shape. The biggest issue here is making each beat sound the same. There are a lot of different sharps and flats in this, and a successful audition candidate will make everything sound smooth as butter. Listen closely to make sure your fingers are even and the emphasis is the same in each beat. 

Rehearsal 314

Click here for a transposed part 

This excerpt occurs at the climax of the opera, as John the Baptist is beheaded at Salome’s request. She has an incredibly long soliloquy before and after this moment. Immediately prior to rehearsal 314, there’s a fermata with a timpani roll. At this moment, John’s severed head is displayed from the depths of the well where they’ve been keeping him. The orchestra enters to convey the horror and terror wrought by this murder, and then Salome’s soliloquy continues in the fourth measure after rehearsal 314. Here is a translation of Salome’s words before and during this passage.

Go to the soldiers and command them to descend and fetch what the Tetrarch promised me, what is mine! Hither, you soldiers, go down into the cistern and get the head of the man! Tetrarch, Tetrarch, command your soldiers to take the head of John for me!

[The gigantic arm of the executioner stretches out of the cistern, holding the head of John on a silver platter. Salome seizes him. The Nazarenes fall on their knees and begin to pray.]

Ah! You didn't want me to kiss your mouth, John! Fine, I will kiss it now! I want to bite it with my teeth as one might bite a ripe fruit. Yes, I want to kiss it now. I said so. Didn't I say so? Yes, I said it. Ah! Ah! I want to kiss him now. . . But why don't you look at me, John? Your eyes that were so terrible, so full of anger and contempt, are now closed. Why are they closed? Do open your eyes, lift up your lids, John! Why are you not looking at me? Are you afraid of me, John, that you don't want to look at me? 

The roiling, independent lines of the music are a good indication of Salome’s madness and its final fulfillment. One could write a book on the madness of operatic heroines, and indeed many have, so we won’t go into that too deeply here. The main takeaway is to make this passage sound chaotic and disconnected from reality. Play your part with confidence but don’t expect this to be a solo for you.

Although the tempo isn’t marked in the score at 314, quarter note equals 50 is a good approximate tempo. For the first three measures here, the bass clarinet plays with the celli. After that, the part is most closely tied to the soprano clarinets, in a sort of back-and-forth exchange, but the bass clarinetist is technically alone. This is another good example of a semi-solo within the context of a tutti excerpt. It is unlikely that anyone will hear you playing this in an orchestra, but you should still do your best to play accurately and listen for parts that you can either line up with or pick up the moving line from. 

This passage is tricky, but I think it becomes less daunting when written out in treble clef only. With the mixed clef part, there appear to be large jumps in places where there are none. A great deal of this is just a chromatic scale. As with any other long moving passage, be sure to anchor on the downbeats. Do your best to be snappy when you have dotted rhythms, and breathe after the tied notes in the first several measures if necessary. If you have difficulty with the arpeggios, keep your air moving forward and make sure you land on the downbeats at the right time. Count the whole notes near the end very carefully, and prioritize the rhythm in the last measure, as a committee will probably be listening for this specifically. 

Listen in Context

You can use this video of the opera with a score to easily find the excerpts above.

Rehearsal 172 – 44:10

Rehearsal 189 – 48:00

Rehearsal 314 – 1:22:00