Richard Strauss: Salomé

... elle commence la lubrique danse qui doit réveiller les sens assoupis du vieil Hérode....

(Huysmans, À Rebours)

Richard Strauss: Salomé Op.54
Playbill of 1905 premiere
no copyright infringement intended
(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Salome_by_Richard_Strauss_playbill_of_1904_premiere.jpg)

A biblical story has several levels of meaning. It belongs to the sacred space, while the story as it is told comes from a historical context far away from ours: different values, different mentalities (Dante in his La Vita Nuova was enumerating four levels of meaning: literal/historical, allegorical, tropological, and anagogical; see also Hugh of St. Victor, De scripturis et scriptoribus sacris).

No wonder the text telling the story of St. John the Baptist's beheading appears today as having a clear doze of male chauvinism (probably the normality two thousand years ago: the good side was populated exclusively by men, the bad side by women - even Herod ultimately being the victim of an inner conflict between the wish to spare the Baptist's life and the duty to keep his word).

Then, were we to judge that text strictly for itself, giving up all other levels of meaning, we should note the obvious: there is a lack of motivation in the actions of Salomé! Was she obedient to her mother up to the threshold of murder? Maybe, however someone cannot be just obedient. While all other personages appear strongly motivated in their intentions and decisions, Salomé remains a mystery.

By the way, even her name is arguable, as the text is a bit ambiguous, the daughter of the said Herodias: for some, the correct translation of the phrase from the Gospel would have been the daughter said (or named) Herodias, thus daughter and mother sharing the same name. And we can find either name, Herodias or Salomé, in the literature devoted to her throughout the centuries. However the scholars seem to agree today that the name of the daughter was Salomé.

I think the Salomé's painted by Titian and by Cranach the Elder deserve a separate discussion, as great approaches to the mystery, but the preoccupation for this personage was much earlier than Renaissance.  Her image entered the European fairy tales, where it was mixed with other folkloric personages. Here is a fragment from Jacob Grimm's Deutsche Mythologie (I am taking a large chunk from his text, as I think it shows a gradual evolution in the way of judging Salomé's deed):

The story of (Salomé), whose dancing brought about the beheading of John the Baptist, must have produced a peculiarly deep impression in the early part of the Middle Ages, and in more than one way got mixed up with fables. Religious poets treat the subject in full, and with relish... It was imagined, that on account of her thoughtless rather than malicious act (for the proposal came from her revengeful mother), the daughter was condemned to roam about in company with evil and devilish spirits. She is placed at the head of the furious host or of witches' nightly expeditions, together with Diana, with Holda and Perchta, or in their stead. ... She was inflamed by love for John, which he did not return; when his head is brought in on a charger, she would fain have covered it with tears and kisses, but it draws back, and begins to blow hard at her; the hapless maid is whirled into empty space, and there she hangs for ever...

Heine was within this universe of German mythology when writing:

...

She who craved the Baptist's head.

For this crimson crime was she

Banned and cursed. Now in this chase

Must she ride, a wandering spook

Till the dawn of Judgment Day.

Still within her hands she bears

Of the Prophet, still she kisses--

Kisses it with fiery lips.

For she loved the Prophet once,

Though the Bible naught reveals,

...

(Heinrich Heine, Atta Troll, Canto XIX )

I would say that Heine, following the German folkloric tradition, offered for Salomé an epilog (damned for eternity), without being preoccupied too much about what had happened in the day of beheading (however mentioning a motivation for the fact, as odd as it could be: the girl had been fascinated by John's beauty, and the only way to keep him close was to have his head!).

An opposite approach was taken by Flaubert (Trois Contes): not particularly interested in depicting the personality of  Salomé, he was rather attracted by the rich setting of the royal court of Hérode. He made a reenactment, populating the scene with a rich texture of people of the palace, military in the suite of the Roman Prefect, Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Nazarenes, occasion to put together conflicting political interests and religious views, and to capture this way a formula for the times of Christianity birth.

By leaving the personality of Salomé somehow in the shadows, Flaubert was different not only from the German poet; also from the other French language authors of the second half of 19th century who dealt with this story. They all had the focus on Salomé. It was the epoch of Parnassians and Decadents, and meditations on the concept of femme fatale belonged to their realm.

For a Parnassian like Théodore de Banville (Les baisers de pierre, in the volume Les Cariatides) the dancer was reason for Hedonistic awe - any moral teaching was left totally aside (svelte en ses riches habits, / portant sur un plat d'or constellé de rubis / la tête de saint Jean-Baptiste qui ruisselle, / nous résume très bien l'histoire universelle ; / car le sage est toujours celui qui ... admire ses yeux noirs et les fleurs de l' étoffe).

Gustave Moreau, Salomé dancing before Herod, 1876
Musée National Gustave Moreau
no copyright infringement intended
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gustave_Moreau_Salom%C3%A9_1876.jpg)

As for the Decadents, the concept of femme fatale was, beyond beauty celebration, a basis to meditate on those dangerous desires deeply hidden in the inner of human soul, working to destroy everything around and ultimately working on self-destruction: the tragedy in the day of Baptist's beheading, seen as the tragedy of all those present, including Salomé; the image of a universe in decadence, a universe wishing its own dissipation, while celebrating the end to come with some kind of aesthetic frenzy. Huysmans is the best known example for capturing such an atmosphere, with his À Rebours. This novel also deserves a special place here in the blog: it is a great piece of art. Let's mention now only the rich description within the novel of a painting of Salomé, created by Gustave Moreau. I recommend you the fifth chapter  from the novel (http://www.mediterranees.net/mythes/salome/divers/huysmans.html).

And here Oscar Wilde comes into picture, with his play Salomé, created in 1891. It was written in French, by the way. Wilde gave an explanation, one year later, I have one instrument that I know I can command, and that is the English language; there was another instrument to which I had listened all my life, and I wanted once to touch this new instrument to see whether I could make any beautiful thing out of it.

The play of Wilde is perhaps the most important moment in the long history of literature devoted to Salomé, because it is a synthesis: the setting and the actors populating the scene remind Flaubert; the motivation comes from Heine (but with the clear Decadent flavor calling in mind Huysmans  - and also  the Princesse Maleine of Maeterlinck). Add to this echoes from Mallarmé (Hérodiade) and Heywood! That's something, to put together such different approaches, and to make them fit! So, Salomé falls for John the Baptist, he rejects her (did you expect other?), there is only one way to make the dream come true: to have his head for ever! Call her a pervert, if you wish, or a psycho-maniac, whatever; or see here a universe working for self-destruction (she is actually killed in the end of the play).

And finally, Richard Strauss: his Salomé used the play of Wilde as libretto and encountered the same difficulties as Wilde did at the first performances: never is easy to go so far away from a biblical story! But, as always, every work of art finds eventually its public.

The role of Salomé is extremely challenging for any singer. It demands the force and stamina of a Wagnerian Soprano, while in the scene of the Dance of Seven Veils the qualities of a Prima Ballerina Assoluta are needed. The great Romanian soprano Maria Cebotari was among the most memorable interprets of this role.

Richard Strauss: Salomé Op.54
Wiener Philharmoniker, Karl Böhm conductor
Teresa Stratas as Salomé
(video by The Wellesz Opus)

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And now, after all this long history, you will ask: what happened with Salomé after Richard Strauss?

Well, she followed the moods and tastes of the 20th and 21st centuries: I found a modern poem, by Carol Anne Duffy, who made from the antique personage a serial head remover, no more no less. Here you go:

(video by Spoken Verse)

A discussion about the poet and the poem (as well as the verses) at:

http://www.helpmewithenglish.co.uk/page_1956029.html

(Richard Strauss)

(Heinrich Heine)