{"id":52134,"date":"2025-01-22T12:23:46","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T11:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cff3a199-d18e-47f4-b9cf-49823007ab66"},"modified":"2025-01-24T15:09:20","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T14:09:20","slug":"review-massenets-herodiade-deutsche-oper-berlin","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/review-massenets-herodiade-deutsche-oper-berlin\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Massenet&#8217;s H\u00e9rodiade (Deutsche Oper Berlin)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rssexcerpt\"><\/p><p class=\"rssauthor\">By <\/p><p class=\"rssbyline\">Published: Wednesday, 22 January 2025 at 11:23 AM<\/p><hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/><?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" standalone=\"yes\"?>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html> <head\/> <body> <p><strong>Massenet<\/strong><br\/> H\u00e9rodiade\u00a0<br\/> Marko Mimica (bass-baritone), Nicole Car (soprano)\u00a0et al; Deutsche Oper Berlin\/Enrique Mazzola<br\/><em>Naxos 8.660540-41\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0158:29 mins (2CD)<\/em><\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"> <audio controls=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2025\/01\/OPERA-Massenet-Herodiade-Celui-dont-la-parole-efface-toutes-peines-\u2013-Il-est-doux-Il-est-bon.mp3\"\/> <\/figure> <h6 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Clip: Massenet: Herodiade &#8211; Celui dont la parole efface toutes peines \u2013 Il est doux, Il est bon<\/h6> <p>Small wonder the Paris Op\u00e9ra rejected <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/jules-massenet\">Massenet<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0<em>H\u00e9rodiade<\/em>\u00a0in 1881 convinced it would stir up a theological hornet\u2019s nest by suggesting that Princess Salom\u00e9\u2019s all too earthly love for the Baptist will take her to heaven. And French conservatives, keen to maintain their doctrinal fences with the Pope would have read the libretto\u2019s distaste for the \u2018Roman\u2019 occupation of Herod\u2019s Judea as Republican Gallicanism. Yet the director of the Op\u00e9ra rightly admired the work. The libretto may be over-perfumed, but the score is irresistibly lush and Massenet knew exactly how to compose a post-<a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/richard-wagner\">Wagner<\/a>ian\u00a0<em>Grand Op\u00e9ra<\/em>\u00a0with more than a hint of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/giuseppe-verdi\">Verdi<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0<em>Don Carlo<\/em>, premiered in Paris 15 years earlier.<\/p> <ul class=\"wp-block-list\"> <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/scariest-moments-in-opera\">The most terrifying moments in opera&#8230;<\/a><\/li> <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/famous-opera-houses\">10 of the most famous opera houses<\/a><\/li> <\/ul> <p>Berlin\u2019s Deutsche Oper do Massenet proud in this live recording with a top-flight cast. Nicole Car\u2019s Salom\u00e9 sounds young and lyrical, on the cusp of womanhood, yet a match in vocal power for her John the Baptist in their final duet. As her adored prophet Matthew Polenzani is in fine fettle, riding the high tessitura of the role with ease. The villain of the piece, Cl\u00e9mentine Margaine\u2019s H\u00e9rodiade is by turns the jealous wife and the vengeful queen with a vocal heft that would curdle the milk and honey of the promised land. As her drug-sozzled husband H\u00e9rod, Etienne Dupuis wheedles around his step daughter as if in the proverbial dirty rain coat.<\/p> <p>You forget the Salom\u00e9 that is to come from Wilde and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/richard-strauss\">Strauss<\/a> as they unwrap Massenet\u2019s soft centred melodies. It\u2019s like stepping into a warm scented bath.\u00a0<em>Christopher Cook<\/em><\/p> <figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"> <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"H\u00e9rodiade (1884 Version) , Act IV Tableau 1 Scene 13: Ami, la mort n'est pas cruelle (Salom\u00e9,...\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WscmJ2ubHrw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/> <\/div> <figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"> Massenet: H\u00e9rodiade \u2013 Act IV, Tableau 1, Scene 13&#8230; (Naxos) <\/figcaption> <\/figure> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Wednesday, 22 January 2025 at 11:23 AM Massenet H\u00e9rodiade\u00a0 Marko Mimica (bass-baritone), Nicole Car (soprano)\u00a0et al; Deutsche Oper Berlin\/Enrique MazzolaNaxos 8.660540-41\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0158:29 mins (2CD) Clip: Massenet: Herodiade &#8211; Celui dont la parole efface toutes peines \u2013 Il est doux, Il est bon Small wonder the Paris Op\u00e9ra rejected Massenet\u2019s\u00a0H\u00e9rodiade\u00a0in 1881 convinced it would stir [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":52135,"template":"","categories":[1,81,19],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/review-massenets-herodiade-deutsche-oper-berlin.jpg",900,893,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/review-massenets-herodiade-deutsche-oper-berlin-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/review-massenets-herodiade-deutsche-oper-berlin-300x298.jpg",300,298,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/review-massenets-herodiade-deutsche-oper-berlin-768x762.jpg",768,762,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/review-massenets-herodiade-deutsche-oper-berlin.jpg",800,794,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/review-massenets-herodiade-deutsche-oper-berlin.jpg",900,893,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2025\/01\/review-massenets-herodiade-deutsche-oper-berlin.jpg",900,893,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Wednesday, 22 January 2025 at 11:23 AM Massenet H\u00e9rodiade\u00a0 Marko Mimica (bass-baritone), Nicole Car (soprano)\u00a0et al; Deutsche Oper Berlin\/Enrique MazzolaNaxos 8.660540-41\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0158:29 mins (2CD) Clip: Massenet: Herodiade &#8211; Celui dont la parole efface toutes peines \u2013 Il est doux, Il est bon Small wonder the Paris Op\u00e9ra rejected Massenet\u2019s\u00a0H\u00e9rodiade\u00a0in 1881 convinced it would stir&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/52134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}