Salome opera, poster for showing at the National Opera, Paris
|

Salome Opera: Scandal and Richard Strauss Makes His Career

When Richard Strauss attended a Berlin theatre production of Wilde’s play Salome in 1903, 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…