Explore the vast range of titles available.

Taped live in New York in 1952, though only now receiving a UK commercial release, this is one of the most famous - and most disturbing - of all operatic performances. It features the great Bulgarian soprano Ljuba Welitsch as Salome, the role that made her a star in the 1940s and 50s.

Born Ljuba Velickova, [Ljuba Welitsch] rose to stardom in her debut, a special performance of \"Salome\" to celebrate Strauss' 80th birthday at the Vienna State Opera.

[LJUBA WELITSCH], the flame-haired Bulgarian-born soprano whose career was highlighted by her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in \"Salome\" in 1949, died on Monday in a hospital in Vienna, Austria. Miss Welitsch, who had become an Austrian citizen, was 83.

Green focuses on three great opera portrayals: Ljuba Welitsch's Salome, Lotte Lehmann's Marschallin, and Rose Pauly's Elektra. These sopranos defined Strauss' roles during his own time. The three singers were among the very few who could communicate much of the spontaneity and dramatic variety of a fully acted live performance through vocal means alone, whether in studio recordings or in lives ones taken from the stage.

[Ljuba Welitsch] won praise for a special performance of \"Salome,\" performances in the title roles of \"Aida\" and \"Tosca\" and a performance of Tatyana in \"Eugene Onegin.\"

What came between, however, was extraordinary. [Strauss] had coached her as Salome in the early 1940s and the role remained her calling card. In 1949, all hell broke loose when she reappeared at Covent Garden in Peter Brook's staging with designs by Salvador Dali, the principal talking point being the final scene in which [Ljuba Welitsch] was gradually covered in green bile that flowed, Exorcist- like, from John the Baptist's severed head. Welitsch's farewell to Salome came on film in Carol Reed's 1955 thriller The Man Between, set in the Berlin Staatsoper, where a performance of the opera is in progress. You only see her in long shot, though it's enough to get an idea of what she was like on stage.

In my case, he concentrated on word setting in song composition, and encouraged me to consider composing more seriously. (I didn't take his advice.) By a curious coincidence, however, I composed a song under his tutelage for [Ljuba Welitsch], which I sent to the soprano. Welitsch wrote me a letter acknowledging it, though I doubt she ever sang it in public. Today, because of all he taught me, I consider myself one of [Otto Luening]'s fortunate legatees. * Welitsch, a native Bulgarian who became an Austrian citizen, was the most electrifying performer I've ever seen on the operatic stage. After her Metropolitan Opera debut (as Salome, in 1949) critic Howard Taubman called her \"one of the few perfect singers to come to the Met.\" Granted I was young and impressionable, but her Salome was hot even by today's standards. I vividly recall her flaming red hair, her bump-and-grind \"Dance of the Seven Veils\" and a maddened erotic finale with the severed head of John the Baptist. She was also a vibrant Aida and a great Donna Anna (in \"Don Giovanni\"). Her voice was a silvery coloratura with the power of a dramatic soprano. That unique sound may be heard again on a superb CD compilation of her commercial recordings, just been released on the Myto label.

The great Bulgarian soprano Ljuba Welitsch made comparatively few recordings, so the release of this famous 1950 Met broadcast is an important addition to her discography. Welitsch was noted for both the uninhibited eroticism and psychological depth of her singing.

John W. Freeman reviews soprano Nellie Melba's recording of various arias and soprano Ljuba Welitsch's recording of various arias.