About

Salome

Background and Synopsis

World Premiere:  Königliches Opernhaus (now Semperoper) - Dresden, Germany

December 9, 1905 

WBO Premiere:  May 26, 2017

Pictured: Interior view of the Semperoper

Strauss composed Salome after seeing Max Reinhardt's staging on the Oscar Wilde play, which used Lachmann's German translation, in Berlin in 1902. Not unlike Samson et Dalila, it is also a work about feminine power, eroticism and ritual sacrifice, and, though it reached the stage three decades after Samson et Dalila, it initially encountered similar censorship and social rejection. Eventually, it made its way into the standard repertoire.

 Although the grit and violence components are the most tantalizing, Salome is actually a work of great beauty and great dramatic power.  Salome's rejection of her stepfather's sexual advances, her infatuation with Jochanaan (John the Baptist) and her choice to have him beheaded are steps in a story that develops inexorably, and Strauss' fantastical, highly romantic and atmospheric score makes every step along the way seem inevitable.

Synopsis



The story takes place in the first century CE, during Jesus' lifetime, after the Roman conquest of the Levant. Herod Antipas has been anointed Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea. He has divorced his first wife and married Herodias, who was formerly married to his brother. Herod lusts after Herodias' teenage daughter Salome. The opera opens on the terrace of Herod's palace in Tiberias, outside the banquet hall where Herod is entertaining Roman dignataries.

Jochanaan (John the Baptist) has been imprisoned in the cistern for criticizing Herod's marriage to Herodias. Salome flees the banquet and Herod's lustful gaze, and as she enters the terrace she hears Jochnaan's voice cursing her mother. She takes an interest in him and persuades one of the guards to bring him out of the cistern. She is instantly infatuated with him, commenting on his skin, his hair and his lips, and begging him for a kiss. But Jochanaan rejects her, calling her the daughter of Sodom. Herod comes out, followed by his entourage and tries to engage Salome, inviting her to drink, eat and rest, but she rebuffs him. Finally, he begs her to dance for him. She agrees after he promises to give her whatever she desires. She dances the Dance of the Seven Veils, after which she demands as her reward the head of Jochanaan. Herod, who recognizes in Jochanaan a holy man, is afraid to harm him and tries to persuade her with extravagant gifts but she insists, and he eventually agrees. She is handed the severed head. In a chilling final scene, she sings a long monologue about the meaning of love and power. Eventually she kisses the bloody lips and boasts that she has kissed Jochanaan even though he rejected her. Shaken by the spectacle, Herod orders the soldiers to kill her on the spot.

José Luis Moscovich - Conductor

Richard Harrell - Stage Director

Peter Crompton - Set and Projection Designer

Callie Floor - Costume Designer

Danielle Ferguson - Lighting Designer

David Gillam - Makeup and Wig Designer

Shirley Benson - Props Designer

Giselle Lee - Sound Designer

Pictured: floor plan for a set design by Peter Crompton 

for the 2016 production of Salome at WBO

To be announced

Orchestra

Kristina Anderson (concertmaster),



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Orchestra Librarian · Virginia Smedberg

Orchestra Manager · Christy Crews

* First appearance with West Bay Opera