Salome Opera: Scandal and Richard Strauss Makes His Career
When Richard Strauss attended a Berlin theater production of Wilde’s play Salome in 1902, he imagined a Salome opera, feeling the play “cried out for music.” By choosing this provocative story for operatic treatment, Strauss courted controversy—perhaps in hopes of drawing attention. As Alex Ross notes, the composer “felt drawn to sexually charged material throughout…