AKIRAIFUKUBE.ORG

SALOME
(1948, revised 1987)

Salome with the Head of John the Baptist by Titian, painted circa 1515 (Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome)

Akira Ifukube's interest in ballet music bloomed after the Second World War. Having moved to Tokyo from Hokkaido, Ifukube collaborated with many of Japan's premiere dancers (including Baku Ishii, Takaya Eguchi and Yaoko Kaitani) and wrote several ballets specially for them in the 1940's and 1950's.

From the left: Baku Ishii, Takaya Eguchi and Yaoko Kaitani

Ifukube's Salome music is based on the play of the same name by British playwright Oscar Wilde. Wilde's play, based on the actual biblical character of Salome, premiered in Paris in 1896. In this play, Salome takes a perverse fancy for John the Baptist, and causes him to be executed when John spurns her affections. In the finale, Salome takes up John's severed head and kisses it.

Salome, Ifukube's third ballet, was composed in 1948. It was performed the following year at the Imperial Theatre by the Toho Symphony Orchestra and was conducted Masashi Ueda. In 1987, Ifukube arranged the ballet music into a 47 minute concert suite. The premiere performance of this concert arrangement took place at the Shinsei Nippon Symphony Orchestra's 100th concert gala conducted by Kazuo Yamada.

Conductors Masashi Ueda (left) and Kazuo Yamada (right)

The concert arrangement is quite different from the music's original incarnation. The composer first reduced the original orchestral score, which was wind in pairs, into a piano score. Ifukube then reorchestrated the music into wind in triples. Furthermore, considerable segments were added and the performance length became one-and-a-half times longer than the original.

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Acknowledgments:

The Artistry of Akira Ifukube by Motohide Katayama and translated by Junko Nonoyama.