jan 1, 1905 - Salome

Description:

Salome, Op. 54, is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss. The libretto is Hedwig Lachmann's German translation of the 1891 French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde, edited by the composer.

His real fame as an opera composer came with Salome in 1905.
a. The opera derives from a play by Oscar Wilde.
b. The plot is based on a biblical story, but Salome is transformed into a necrophiliac who desires the head of the John the Baptist and kisses it sensuously at the end.
c. The themes in Salome clearly point to Freud’s teachings on desire and death.
3. Taking Freud’s prodding that sex could be perverse (acts other than for procreation), we can see in Strauss’s Salome that music follows suit.
a. The composer challenged conventional morality musically.
4. Salome’s climactic scene, her Liebestod, functions as does Isolde’s, but Strauss mixes
disturbing motives and tonal centers in ways that vividly paint the deviant decadence of the title character. He maximalizes the horror and passion.

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