Until about 1900, Richard Strauss concentrated largely on his great series of symphonic poems — from Don Juan (1888) to Ein Heldenleben (1898). His first two operas, Guntram (1893) and Feuersnot (1901), were failures; his third, Salome (1905), became a universally acclaimed masterpiece. Despite being one of his most celebrated operas, Salome is also one of his most provocative and controversial works. The premiere, in 1905, was a huge success, despite its shockingly modern musical style and a plot that struck many as an insult to morality. 

In Oscar Wilde’s one-act play Salomé (1892), the biblical story was modernized and turned into an erotic thriller focusing on the morbid aspects of the legend. As soon as Strauss had seen a performance of Wilde’s play in Max Reinhardt’s Little Theater in Berlin, he knew it had great operatic potential. Rather than having the drama adapted as a libretto, he set Wilde’s original text directly to music (in Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation), with only a few minor changes. 

At one pivotal point in the opera, Salome performs the shocking “Dance of the Seven Veils” for her stepfather, Herod, the ruler of Judea, who has given his word to grant her heart’s desire, whatever it may be, in return. Salome does not name her prize until the dance is over. To Herod’s horror, she demands the head of John the Baptist (Jochanaan in the German translation), the imprisoned prophet who has pronounced a curse on Salome because of her shamelessness. 

The onstage musicians begin to play a fast and wild introduction for Salome, but the princess’s motions them to slow down so she can begin the dance in a languid mood. The music has a distinctly seductive character at the start, with long notes preceded by rapid ornaments, and the interval of the augmented second — Strauss’s attempt to evoke Middle Eastern music. After a while, the dance gives way to a waltz (slow at first but gradually getting more animated). The strains of the waltz include a short, four-note motive that recurs throughout the opera, symbolizing Salome’s relationship to Jochanaan, a mixture of awe, revulsion, and strong sexual attraction. 

For a moment, Salome seems exhausted, but she recovers her strength for the frenzied last section of her dance, where the opening seductive motives are combined with the accelerated waltz theme. She briefly looks into the cistern where Jochanaan is imprisoned (the flutes and oboes play Salome’s theme at this moment), and then throws herself at Herod’s feet, sure of her imminent triumph. 

Following Salome’s dance — heard here as a stand-alone orchestral work — the opera moves quickly to its finish. Despite his promise to Salome, Herod cannot bring himself to order Jochanaan’s execution. Salome’s mother and Herod’s wife, Herodias (who hates Jochanaan), removes the ring of death from her husband’s finger and gives it to the executioner. Thus, Herod is forced by his oath to comply with Salome’s murderous wish. 

In the final scene, we see the bloodthirsty princess being presented with Jochanaan’s head on a silver platter. She addresses the dead prophet in a solo that is in turn tender, ecstatic, mocking, and mysterious. Herod then watches in horror as Salome kisses the severed head before ordering his soldiers to “kill this woman,” whereupon the curtain falls and the opera ends. 

— Peter Laki 

Peter Laki is a musicologist and frequent lecturer on classical music. He is a visiting associate professor of music at Bard College.