Opera Wrocławska
Repertuar
Salome - Richard Strauss

Salome - Richard Strauss

Tickets from 50 PLN to 250 PLN performance in German with Polish and English surtitles

About the production

Salome is one of Richard Strauss’s (1864–1949) greatest and most significant works, alongside Elektra. This one-act opera was composed in 1905, and the libretto was written by the composer himself, who drew inspiration from Oscar Wilde’s play of the same name. As a result, Salome is a German adaptation of Wilde’s play, originally written in French. The work premiered on 9 December 1905 in Dresden. The production was deemed controversial due to its overly bold display of eroticism. Ultimately, Salome won critical acclaim and earned the reputation of being one of the operatic masterpieces of the 20th century.
The opera is set in King Herod’s palace in Galilee and tells the biblical story of Princess Salome. The girl captivates Herod with her beauty, and above all with the Dance of the Seven Veils. In return, she demands that the head of the imprisoned prophet – John the Baptist (Yochanan) – be brought to her on a platter.

However, Mariusz Treliński’s production does not refer to biblical times; instead, the action is transposed to the present day. The work becomes a family drama that reveals the hidden relationships between the household members: between the stepfather – Herod, his stepdaughter – Salome, and the power-hungry mother – Herodias. The title character also plays a part here, alongside the elusive object of her obsessive desire – the prophet Jochanaan. Or is he merely a voice, a vision? At the same time, a power struggle unfolds between Salome and Herod – her brutal stepfather, who lives in fear of death.
The score is brimming with expressionist musical language, and the rich orchestration is also striking. Furthermore, the opera’s intense emotional and psychological charge lends it a unique quality.

At the Wrocław Opera (then the Breslauer Stadttheater), Salome was staged very soon after its Dresden premiere, as early as February 1906. The composer Richard Strauss, who was present at the performance, made no secret of his delight, and as a token of gratitude for the respect shown and the warm reception of his work, he published an official letter of thanks in the newspaper ‘Schlesische Zeitung’.

Summary

Synopsis of the libretto according to the directorial concept by Mariusz Treliński

In 4 AD, the tetrarch of Galilee, Herod Antipas, driven by lust for power, eliminates his brother and marries his brother’s wife, Herodias. The Jewish community condemns this union as incestuous. Herodias’s daughter and – at the same time – Herod’s stepdaughter is Salome.

A house in contemporary times. During dinner, the authoritarian Herod humiliates Herodias and crudely harasses Salome. A long night falls, in which the toxic family relations reach their climax. The cold moonlight deepens the oneiric atmosphere and a sense of undefined danger thickens above the table. Among the waiters serving dinner is Narraboth, who is in love with Salome and compares her beauty to the disturbing glow of the moon.

Salome, wearied by the ambiguous glances and Herod’s shamelessness, can no longer bear the atmosphere. It is at this moment that an unfamiliar Voice resounds, proclaiming the coming of the Messiah. No one understands it; everyone reacts differently: Herod flees, Herodias is confused and one of the waiters faints. Conflicting interpretations and guesses follow: is it the voice of a mystic or perhaps a prophet from the desert? His name is uttered – Jochanaan. Salome listens to the Voice as if hypnotised; a deep, personal calling awakens in her, along with a desire to meet the unknown Other.

In her bedroom, Salome enters into a dialogue with herself. The voice of Jochanaan stirs up old traumas, curses Herod and Herodias. This experience both attracts and repels her. The presence of Jochanaan takes extreme forms – at times human, at times demonically animal. Salome cannot free herself from fear; she swings between euphoria and despair, idealising the Voice and ever more obsessively desiring the body that emerges from it. She longs to kiss his lips but is violently rejected. Narraboth, witnessing her madness and her indifference to his love, cannot bear it and commits suicide.

The scene shifts to Herod’s kitchen – the night unveils the family’s private face. Growing increasingly drunk, Herod becomes obsessed, terrorising Herodias and obscenely seducing Salome. He also suffers from hallucinations: he sees a group of Jews disputing whether the Messiah has already come. Their argument is interrupted once more by the Voice, heightening Herod’s fear. The guilt of having murdered his brother returns with doubled force. The tyrant trembles at the thought of the dead being resurrected. Even the corpse of Narraboth rises in his imagination, completing the horror. In the family kitchen, the hell of guilt and crime erupts. Jochanaan foretells the death of a depraved woman though her name is not spoken. Convinced that the end is near, Herod asks Salome to dance for him. At first, she refuses, then agrees on the condition that she may choose her own reward.

In an oneiric sequence of images, Salome’s past is revealed – her childhood and the repressed memories of perverse experiences with an adult man who is both a guardian and a tormentor. In the girl, a desire for revenge grows – the man loses his head.

Family destruction reaches its peak. Herod is powerless; Herodias becomes hysterical. Jochanaan appears – he is the embodiment of the mysterious Voice whose presence has brought ruin upon the house. Herod asks Salome what reward she demands for her dance. The woman asks for the man’s head to be brought to her on a silver platter. Her revenge, aimed at Herod, is fulfilled: she receives the head from the hands of the phantasmal Jochanaan and sees herself in a bloody bath, holding the severed head and kissing its dead lips. The merciless moonlight floods the blood-soaked bodies in Herod’s house.

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