Her husband, Gustav Landauer, was a revolutionary philosopher who, in , served as the Commissar of Enlightenment in the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic, before being murdered by right-wing forces. The standard answer is that he was trying to whip up a provocation and thereby increase his box-office receipts.
But there were easier ways to make a buck. Strauss, despite his cynical image, was a complicated man who felt drawn to sexually charged material throughout his life. Women dominate his operas; men tend to be weak and shallow in comparison. Right from the start, something curious is happening with the male gaze. It turns out that the page is smitten with Narraboth and implores him not to look at Salome in that lascivious way.
Narraboth is himself beautiful, as Herod will later point out. I gave him a little box of perfumes and ear-rings wrought in silver, and now he has killed himself! None of this is to say that Strauss was secretly gay or bisexual; he seems to have been exclusively devoted to his wife, Pauline de Ahna. Rather, Strauss responded to a German-speaking milieu in which gay desire was expressed more freely than in most other societies.
Once banned from the London stage, Strauss's radical opera has been seducing London audiences since From devils and rogues, to lovers and rulers — who says tenors have to have all the fun? Home Productions Salome. Most recent performance There are currently no scheduled performances of Salome. Read more… Contains spoilers.
Consumed by jealousy to hear this, Narraboth commits suicide before Jochanaan is returned to the cistern below the palace. When the king and queen enter with their court, Herod slips into the blood of Narraboth, causing him to hallucinate.
When he awakes from this he finds himself madly in love with Salome, who immediately rebukes him. When Jochanaan taunts the incestuous marriage of the king and queen, Herodias demands that he be silenced, to which the fearful Herod refuses. The king makes of his daughter three requests: that she eat with him, that she drink with him, and that she dance for him; the first two are rejected, but the request for a dance is honored when Herod offers to give Salome any price that she ask, even if that were half of his kingdom.
The dance she performs, the Dance of the Seven Veils, has her slowly undress until she is naked; when she has finished she states her price must be the head of Jochanaan, presented on a silver platter.
While Herodias is delighted at this, Herod tries to offer a number of treasures, including the sacred veil of the temple. Salome remains adamant and is soon brought the severed head of the prophet.
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