Montserrat Caballe as Salome in "Dance of seven veils" by Strauss

[olmaleo]

Paleolithic Venus.

[hernandocarvalho]

Divina!!!

[icylakepaxphile]

you could have use a dancer as your intenal presentative! this scene is really hard to see..

[liszt80]

In the past fat women were considered seducent. Just look the paintings by Botticelli or Delacroix. I think Caballé, despite the weight, is very graceful in this film.

[windstorm1000]

She should never have done this role--hate to sound cruel--she's too fat, but its the truth.  & this is a role that depends on looks as well as voice. She looks like a clerk from Wal Mart who went to a costume shop, had two hours of dance lessons, then stepped on stage. You have to be somewhat nubile for this role--otherwise it doesn't make dramatic sense--why would Herrod be interested in a woman who looks like one of his servants? No offense Montserrat...but Rita Hayworth where are you??!!

[ploplisphilin]

I have seen many Salomes, and each has failed to be a great singer as well as dancer in the part. Strauss's cruelty. But, the Idea of Salome is more important than the human expression. Each diva approaches that Idea to the best of her ability. Some are more successful than others; each offers something important. I like the pose at the end with the red scarf around her neck.

[ploplisphilin]

I have seen many Salomes, and each has failed to be a great singer as well as dancer in the part. Strauss's cruelty. But, the Idea of Salome is more important than the human expression. Each diva approaches that Idea to the best of her ability. Some are more successful than others; each offers something important.

[hedwigkiesler]

what actually bothers me is not her dancing but the staging. it is meant to be a sort of striptease, even though not all the way. but done like this, it looks like sale at the "fabric barn".

[forbluegirl]

Caballe is one of most beautiful Salome in the world. Her eyes are fatal fascination. :)

[harpguy18]

whats goin on with the orchestra? lol

[notruf34]

Gorda??? Y qué más da? Es una gran dama de la lírica!!!! Su voz es lo más insinuante y lujuriosa (con perdón) que jamás hayan escuchado oídos humanos. L adoro!! Está gorda, sí....y qué!? A quién le importa? La amo por lo que es, por su trabajo, por su voz y el que no vea esta faceta en ella se pierde uno de los mayores placeres que puedo imaginar.

BRAVO CABALLË!

[emf1918]

Montserrat is one of the sexiest women, her face is beautiful and she has gorgeous eyes. she really isn't that large...the costumes do nothing to make her look smaller and if this is 1979 she was far from her heaviest. and don't forget her weight gain stemmed from pre-eclampsia from her two pregnancies and later a tumour on her hypothalamus....and still she has one of the greatest voices of all time. Brava senora!!!!!!

[lucianapb10]

OK... I agree...She doesn't know how to dance. E eu confesso também que ri muito com essa dancinha dela..hahahahaha..but, WHO CARES!? SHE'S MONTSERRAT CABALLÉ... hahahahhaha

[lucianapb10]

What REALLY matters??? Her Weight or her Splendorous VOICE !!??? Well, for me she's beautiful as she is ... and her VOICE...Ingualable !!!

[olympieta]

She is beautiful. It does not matter the way she tries the dance. She has a pair of seductive eyes as well her marvelous voice and her talents as dramatic actress.

[jirizika1962]

@olympieta You are completely right. E.g. look at her face and eyes expresion at 3.31, the most girlish Salome from all her. Cannot imagine famous Birgit Nilsson to something like that.

[windstorm1000]

@olympieta Um, you don't know anything about this opera do you. Look at my first post. M. looks plain ridiculous here. She's too fat.

[davisbone]

Caballe is beautifull charming and very brave!!!

[AtlasShrugged2005]

Not sure if she is dancing or doing laundry.

[gracilon]

Chico,te parece aburrida por ignorancia...suele pasar que el ignorante presume de atacar y desdeñar las cosas que desconoce...ha pasado siempre y seguirá pasando,tú te lo pierdes...para tí Britney y Paris...cómetelas con patatas y disfrútalas,el que se pierdes a Strauss eres tú,a Strauss(y a mí)le da igual..saludos!

[Anibaal]

Caballé es una excelente Salomé, pero en la danza... una lástima.

[mtrav95]

Whatever happened here was the choreorapher's fault for totally lacking an imagination (and for folks here who only feel that negative-sized people can be sexy). Caballe may not be the most nubile of dancers, but she did the best with what she was given. Frankly, she gets my vote for doing it at all knowing the nasty comments she'd get from nimrods (like those who've posted comments here). Enough already. Time to grow up, people. I'll take Caballe's voice over a worse soprano's dancing.

[iWalkure]

Yes I agree, and let's not forget that in ancient Babylon big sized women may have very well been considered very atractive as opposed to slimmer ones ... so this rendition is realistic with the story and time it is for.

[elzuzo267]

is this the way Lewinsky turned on WJC in the Oval Office?

[Bigman240]

Thank goodness she didn't strip!!!!

[nectenorboi09]

Okay, I adore Caballe, but this reminds me a bit too much of watching a rather large cat aimlessly get tangled in a ball of yarn...

[Toscavsky]

Me da igual si está gorda!!! La quiero!!!

[Orfeo68]

she may be big...but her vpice is just as big, she is one of the greatest artists

[windstorm1000]

@Orfeo68 Just because you CAN, doesn't mean you SHOULD.

[craptasticusa]

What the hell just happened here?

I went from seeing Maria Ewing's jaw-dropping version of this scene with gutsy full nudity at the end to this ... this .... what WAS that?

[Merryjest]

You mean the Maria Ewing version.. where her entire approach to singing was hollering and screaming like a cat in heat? Sure, that was hot, if you're into heavy metal and not opera. Montserrat may not be an hourglass beauty, but she could outsing Ewing's screeches any day of the week, specially in Salomé.

[PpiLngstckng]

After watching ALL of the video, I agree with tenore23. I've watched utube's different versions of "dance of the 7 veils", and this one lacks sexiness.

[PpiLngstckng]

Proof positive that sexiness is an aura and manner given off. Beuty is at first level, appearance, secondly, it is presentation. This is why some beautiful models have no stage presence, and why some fat black momma can command sexiness.

[pasfresh123]

put it on! put it on! (the reverse of a strip show)

[tenore23]

for starters Catherine malfitano. With all her power and great dancing, she comes off as a bitch not as a seductres.

The whole idea is to seduce Herod, not to show off and have him get all horny just because you are naked.

[pasfresh123]

that is more related to staging and choreography, it has nothing to do with the performer(s).

[metphmet]

But actually HE is ridiculous!She does what she can.....which is not a lot.

[waltermontani]

grrrrrrande!!

[HoD3]

les rôles de sopranos dramatiques permettent rarement de concilier le physique et la voix!

[operabuff1]

This is the funniest version of Salome´s dance I´ve ever seen. It´s so hilarious that it can become addictive.

[mammylove1]

The Divine Ms. C! I'm annoyed at the obsession a lot of people have with Ms caballe's weight. Look, its Opera, first and foremost voice! second, visuals, acting, etc. Show me a more beautiful face, and stage presence... Ms caballe, is in my eyes, beautiful,.. and one of our best Soprano's ever. Lay off with the juvenile weight comments, please. M. x

[tenore23]

well, fat and everything she carries a lot more seduction in her movements that some skinnier singers.

[pasfresh123]

ok, I'll bite. Name me some skinny singers who have done this scene and were not seductive, preferrably in youtube, or even anyone you have seen.

[cek1111]

King's Thought : Ok!!! I'll give what you want. So please!! Don't be naked! please...

[lastupidissimo]

lol, salome, sexy slim 16 year old daughter of herodias... buhuuwahwahwahwhahh!!!!!

[gelilyn]

What?? I thought the point of the dance was the woman to take the veils off of her body?? Well, ok, nevermind....

[emlodik]

Who'd want to watch the Dance of the Seven veils from THAT?!?!?!

[anooshafra]

"Fat women" were not considered to be beauties. Yes, they liked their women voluptious, but not fat!

[pacermanx]

Yes - excellent. But you do need to see the whole opera to get the full story obviously. Maria Ewing's reading of the same part is startlingly evil. Unfortunately most viewers only want to see 'The Dance' and miss the full story (or Strauss' version of it).

[NosHabebitHumus]

Not Strauss's version of the story. The libretto is a translation by Hugo von Hoffmansthal of the French play by...OSCAR WILDE!

However, Strauss specifically instructed that, for the dance, the soprano was to be replaced by a ballerina. Of course, he could not have known Disney would encourage this sort of performance by the "Dance of the Hours" in "Fantasia" --- done by hippopotami!

[tenorismo]

Keep it on keep  it on lol

[thetuscanman]

I adore Caballé. Her recorded Salome from the 60s is the best rendition of this role I've ever heard. But, honestly, here she makes me laugh. I saw her in the 80s as Salome at La Scala. Se sang on a platform and mimes and dancers did all the acting. It was a wonderful performance.

[meinfb]

Someone with the heft of Caballe could very well have been the Salome of legend. Tastes in female beauty have changed dramatically over the centuries. And fat women, especially in that part of the world were considered the beauties. Have you ever seen a female representation of fertility, at any time over the centuries, who looked like the stick figures that pass for beauty these days. Many of these comments on here simply display the ignorance of the author.

[MUSICALLAN]

Opera has a long history of looking past the externals to the human within. It's what enabled the opera world to embrace a nonchalant attitude toward inter-racial casting way before Broadway did (and still not at all in movies). Likewise, some tall sopranos were allowed to prove that they could project the essence of Cio-cio-san and some weighty women could be great Salomes (and Mimis and Violettas and...).

[carrion19]

This is soo long and boring , even whith a salome that can really dance.

[carrion19]

This is soo long and boring , even whith a salome that can really dance.

[waltermontani]

grande madre comene

arnold

[powerwords112]

Hillarious!

Everything you expect from opera and more!

[puppetoz]

The fact that she does it at all is wonderful- not like the old days where they slipped behind a pillar and a dancer did it for them. Vive Mdme Caballe- she is wonderful

[Matt75003]

This looks eerily like Miss Piggy trying to seduce Kermit the Frog... OK, so Herodes was a chubby chaser! And this is high camp of a magnitude seldom seen on the operatic stage. I suspect Oscar Wilde would have LOVED every second of it.

[windstorm1000]

@Matt75003 Oh, gosh--your post had me laughing I couldn't stop!! Finally a sensible viewer!! And a funny one too! M. should NEVER have attempted this---it was a bad conceit of hers--and she's paying for it here--a laughing stock.

[unclealand]

This looks more like "Salomoooooooooooo." Caballe's work on this opera is best heard and not seen, especially when she is dressed as a refigerator.

[mtrav95]

She gets credit from me for even doing it in the first place; she had to know she'd be ridiculed by people like the pinheads who post comments about her weight. Grow up folks.  It's opera. From the moment it was born opera was about suspending disbelief. If you think opera is realistic, then you're sorely mistaken. Quit posting comments that call for realism. It's a waste of everyone's time.

I'll take a ravishing voice like Caballe's over a good dancer any day.

[hiiijole]

Es posible que esos "pinheads" no escriban con congruencia, pero demos peso a su punto. Esos "pinheads" finalmente no se refieren al realismo: se refieren al arte. Y se trata de arte... y de belleza. Salomé supone en el libretto belleza. Y Caballé es y será bella en voz, pero al menos hubieran modificado ésta escena aquí (básica en el libretto), porque ver a Caballé en éstas visiones, de plano es de terror.

Neto, es de risa loca.

PS:I don't wrote all this in English 'cause I'm in a rush...

[CFCBobbi2008]

but being Salome is also about being able to look and sound and act like a teenager. obviously you need a good voice, but if you don't have those other attributes then you only have part of the equation. also, opera is not just supposed to be pretty to listen to. there is a visual aspect that should not be entirely ignored.

[meinfb]

How the hell do you know what teenagers looked like in Biblical times? Fat women were considered to be the beauties, indeed they were presented in art from the times as the ideal for fertility. Haven't you ever heard the term "Rubenesque?" That was a time, also, when fat women were the beauties. Not these Hollywood stick figures. Ever seen a representation of female fertility/beauty from antiquity that looked like Twiggy or Kate Moss? I don't think so.

[CFCBobbi2008]

yes, obviously tastes in beauty have changed, but no one ever said we want a Salome who looks like twiggy. i agree that women should look like women, obviously, but you don't need to be about 30lbs overweight. is it really too much to ask for a soprano who is a healthy size?

[LeNozze44]

"Healthy"? Is that the politically correct way to refer to Ms. Caballe? If you ask me, I would say she's just...thinly challenged.

[windstorm1000]

@mtrav95 Regarding your last sentence: Not in this opera you don't.

[gtelloz]

La monike pardo de la opera!

[Rikardunov]

i dont think its her size or anything thats wrong...its the dance itself, she just spins about with some fabric and gets it caught in her hair every now and then.

[operaoaf]

Normally I find myself championing singing above acting. In opera, music should outweigh acting. But Salome presents a very unique dilemna because the dance serves a central role in the story. The story calls for an enchantress who dazzles the putrid and insolent mind of a tyrant. Salome must captivate through dance. The director had to create a palatable illusion of salome's dance. This video is hard to digest even if one believes in overlooking extra belly folds.

[primadonna13]

Oh! so Why are you commenting?

[gualtrapa66]

Lo que se dice bailar muy bien no lo hace, es cierto, pero es sin duda la mejor voz del siglo XX. Cuantas veces me he emocionado escuchando a la Caballe y las veces que me quedan por hacerlo. I love you Montserrat.

[amd73td63]

Another DIVA that knows what the deal of performing and what the FUTURE will bring. Wow you other people and critics are very hard on these people who have perfected their art in so many ways. What are you doing now besides listening and being nastily critical?

[pautalux]

Completely quote Sergio Oliver

[LFP2010]

i do give montserrat props for not doing the old fashioned version of the seven veils where the 250 pound soprano goes of stage and they send on a 84 pound ballerina in the same costume

[Operaddict]

Why is no one laughing? This is total suspension of disbelief!

[SergioOliver]

Pero qué estáis diciendo? Abrid vuestra mente, y mirad a una profesional sin complejos que se atreve con todo. Y encima está guapísima. Y además sus gestos faciales. Si no os gusta, buscad un vídeo donde lo haga Paris Hilton.

[alexmacias]

Not sexy.

[kaifas762]

caballe¿era necesario?

[aberglave]

Laughable? No. Look at her facial expressions, look at her movements. Caballe cannot pretend here to be a 16 year old girl, but she gives us the look-at-me 16 year old that still lives in women who are fifty (and in fat and dumpy 16 year olds). It is all woman and seductive, and since we know that taking off the veils would kill the illusion, she works incredibly (assisted by a properly soused and lecherous Herod)with the idea of playing with veils instead. Diva, and trouper.

[cristoforo66]

Great funny moment ... but it is opera : we must accept that !

[xrnwbx]

the opera isnt over untill the fat lady is done danceing!

[Joeleole]

She moves quite well for her size!

[GABYCONSTANZA]

u got that right thanks caballe quite wonderful and rysanek superb in this role

[Xeria]

i just hate that the slaves are painted down to look like they are black

[gabrielacarneiro]

no doubt shes a great singer, and I do appreciate her courage

trying to not behave like a kid but i can´t see in this perfomance the reason that made Herod offer anything Salome asked for

unfortunately it does not fit to the tragedy

[mtrav95]

Oh for pity's sake grow up folks. She is playing Salome and Salome must dance. She does what she is able to do. Don't watch it if it disgusts you and quit behaving like children. While you're being catty about her dancing I will marvel at her voice.

[unclealand]

Caballe's voice was often wonderful, but Leonie Rysanek was superior as Salome in every detail.

[Dymension]

I disagree, I have the Rysanek video from Vienna. Rysanek is better in the stentorian moments, but Caballe excels in the lighter "girlish" moments. Caballe's duet with Jochanaan is superb, but Leonie's final scene is outstanding. I think they're both great...

[boipussi]

Geez what's the point? Can you even call this a dance?

[LowellMorgan]

I get nothing, I don't buy it. This performance is aweful and should not have been attempted. We are all worse people having seen it.

[lungdoc]

Visually laughable.

[Greatfan]

Oh come on ! Caballé is a great singer but this dance is impossible. What ? Effective. I saw Nilsson and she seemed a rockette in comparison !!! What I have seen so far is a fat woman walking and gesturing !!!!

[nalasa1]

What a hoot! I couldn't imagine her doing this "dance" but they managed to make it effective.

[chubblove]

the best salome ever

[Jokanaan]

(Mercifully, Caballe and the director rightly decided to leave all seven veils in place.) But seriously, Caballe was a really effective Salome; I'd love to see more of this performance. Thanks for posting it.

[jokenruth]

What surprising woman! She isn't dancer but moves surely and she takes part in all the opera. Without complexes! She does not leave the dance a double that dances. This really makes the great divas! Brava Diva!!!! Thanks Onegin65 We will have more of this incredible Salome?