Duration: 8 minutes
From his very first reading of Oscar Wilde’s drama Salome, Richard Strauss recognised its immense musical potential. The abundance of motifs Wilde wove throughout his play – its carefully-crafted imagery and metaphors such as the full moon, glances, blood, breezes, and bird wings – practically demanded a colourful, leitmotif-rich transformation into music. After two tentative attempts at music theatre, Strauss had found the ideal subject with which to bring the art of orchestral illustration he had perfected in tone poems to the operatic stage. Kaiser Wilhelm had lamented the success of Salome, saying, “He will do himself terrible harm with this!” But it was so great that, according to Strauss, it funded the construction of his villa in Garmisch. Salome became the first of his operas to secure a permanent place in the repertory.
Salome’s dance is the pivotal moment of the drama. The daughter of Queen Herodias dances for her stepfather Herod, after he promises to grant her anything she desires. Salome dances as if her life depends on it – and then demands the head of the imprisoned prophet Jochanaan, who had earlier rejected her advances. Bound by his oath, Herod orders the execution of the stern preacher.
Strauss composed the music for Salome’s dance last, after completing the rest of the opera. In it, he drew upon nearly all the previously established motifs, cloaking them in pseudo-Oriental colours and whipping them up into a state of ecstatic intensity.