Category:Salome (subject)

Salome (1st century CE) was the daughter of Herodias and Herod II, and the step-daughter of Herod Antipas.

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• San Giovanni Battista (St. John the Baptist / 1675 Stradella / Ansaldi), oratorio
• Hérodiade (Herodias / 1881 Massenet / Milliet, Grémont), opera
• (++) Salomé (Salome / 1893 Wilde), play
• (++) Salome (1905 Strauss / Lachmann), opera
• Salomé (1908 Mariotte / Wilde), opera

• This page is edited by Gabriele Boccaccini, University of Michigan

Overview

From the historical point of view, Salome is part of the scion of powerful and politically engaged women that characterized the House of Hasmoneus (and the House of Herod), from Queen Salome Alexandra to Alexandra the Hasmonean, Mariamne, Herodias, Berenice, Drusilla, and others.

Josephus introduces Salome as the daughter of Herod II and Herodias. Her paternal grandparents were Herod the Great and Mariamne II, while another son of Herod the Great, Aristobulus IV and his wife Berenice I were her maternal grandparents. She was thus related to both the House of Herod and the House of Hasmoneus.

After her mother's divorce and remarriage, Salome grew up as the step-daughter of her uncle Herod Antipas. Some legendary Christian accounts narrate of her involvement in the death of John the Baptist.

Still an adolescent, Salome was given as wife to her uncle Herod Philip, son of Herod the Great. A young widow, she remarried with Aristobulus of Chalcis, from whom she had three sons named Herod, Agrippa and Aristobulus (see Ant XVIII 136-137).

Nothing else is known about her life and death.

Research on Salome however is limited by the paucity of historical sources and the legendary nature of the Gospel account. Scholars have rather focused on the study of the Salome legend and its ramifications in literature and the arts.

= Salome

The story of Salome is recorded in Islamic sources, as well.

Salome, in fiction

The character of Salome has been subjected in fiction to a dramatic metamorphosis, from innocent child or indifferent teenager to powerful icon of morbid female seductiveness (and anti-Semitism). Salome is one of the most successful and recognizable characters from Second Temple Judaism in modern culture.

In medieval Christian iconography, Salome is portrayed as an innocent child, the passive instrument of her mother's revenge. By the 16th century, the character has matured into a teenager, now more indifferent than innocent to the drama in which she has been involved. The turning point is the second half of the 19th century when Salome is transformed into an Oriental beauty, fully self-conscious of her power of seduction. In the works of Oscar Wilde and Richard Strauss she becomes the epitome of the femme fatale, a sensual, morbid and sadistic character who destroys the men she loves.

• Gabriele Boccaccini, University of Michigan

Salome, in ancient sources

The character of Salome is mentioned both in Josephus and in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew.

The Gospels of Mark and Matthew (which do not mention her name or any other incidents in her life) suggest her (involuntary) involvement in the death of John the Baptist. They tell us that as a girl she danced before her uncle (and now step-father) Herod Antipas. At the instigation of her mother Herodias, she requested and obtained the head of John the Baptist as her reward from the king.

Josephus (who does not mention Salome in his account of the death of John the Baptist), in a genealogical list of the descendants of Herod the Great, talks briefly of her life as the daughter of Herod II and Herodias, and the step-daughter of Herod Antipas after her mother's divorce and remarriage. Salome was given as wife to her uncle Herod Philip, son of Herod the Great. A young widow, she remarried with Aristobulus of Chalcis, from whom she had three sons named Herod, Agrippa and Aristobulus (see Ant XVIII 136-137).

The story of Salome and her involvement in the death of John the Baptist is repeated also in Islamic traditions.

Salome, in music

Salome first emerged as a "singing" character in the tradition of the oratorios since the end of the 17th century. The first oratorio to be recorded as having Salome among its characters is San Giovanni Battista (St. John the Baptist / 1675 Stradella / Ansaldi), oratorio. As in all "biblical oratorios," the protagonist is John the Baptist and the plot closely follows the biblical narrative.

Among the most celebrated oratorios dealing with the death of John the Baptist is also Il Batista (1727 Caldara / Zeno), oratorio, which premiered in Vienna in 1727. It is the first of which the name of the interpreter of Salome is recorded--"Signora Helvertin."

The season of the "biblical" oratorios ended with St John the Baptist (1873 Macfarren / Monk), oratorio. The transition to the opera came with Hérodiade (1881). In Jules Massenet's opera the character of Salome takes central stage and a life of her own but still preserves her "biblical" innocence. In the 1880s Hérodiade" was performed in Belgium, Italy, France, Germany and in 1892 reached New Orleans.

Everything changed in 1896 with the premiere in Paris of Salomé (Salome / 1893 Wilde), play. Salome lost her innocence and became the embodiment of the femme fatale who seduces and destroys her lovers. The "Salomania" spread in every corner of Europe and America.

Based on Wilde's play, Richard Strauss's Salome premiered in Dresden on 9 December 1905 (starring Marie Wittich in the title role). It was an immediate success. In 1906 the opera was performed in a dozen theaters, including Graz, Cologne, Berlin (starring Emmy Destinn), Turin, and Milan (under the direction of Arturo Toscanini). In spite of the composer's invitation to look at the opera as nothing more than "a scherzo with a fatal conclusion," many regarded it as a gruesome middlebrow entertainment. When the opera opened at the New York Metropolitan Opera on 22 January 1907, accusations of vulgarity and indecency led to the cancellation of the show and the opera would not be performed again at the Met until 1934. In Austria, Russia and other countries the opera was banned even before being performed.

And yet, Strauss's Salome was an unstoppable success. In March 1907 the French version of the opera premiered in Brussels, of which a scaled-down rendition was also given in Paris a few days before the German version opened there at the Théâtre du Châtelet on 8 May 1907 under the direction of the composer. Aino Ackté played Salome in the 1907 Leipzig premiere as well as in the 1910 London premiere. In spite of the Met's boycott, the Salomania hit New York again at the Manhattan Opera House in 1909 with Mary Garden.

Among the early interpreters of Strauss's Salome are Göta Ljungberg, Maria Jeritza, Maria Cebotari, and Christle Goltz, Probably the most famous of all was the Bulgarian soprano Ljuba Welitsch, who sang it in the presence of the composer at a performance given to mark his 80th birthday in Vienna in 1944.

Strauss's Salome is regularly staged in the major opera theaters and is now available also in numerous sound and video recordings, featuring interpreters such as Birgitt Nilsson, Leonie Rysanek, Hildegard Behrens, Montserrat Caballé, Josephine Barstow, Catherine Malfitano, Maria Ewing, Nadja Michael, Karita Mattila and Angela Denoke.

Although overshadowed by Strauss's Salome, Massenet's Hérodiade has not ceased to be performed and recorded, offering the soprano the intriguing possibility to play the same role in two different operas.

@2017 Gabriele Boccaccini, University of Michigan

External links

• Richard Strauss's Salome: which recording is best?

Salome, in dance

• See Salome's Dance

Salome, in cinema

Salome is a marginal character in ancient sources (to the extent of being unnamed in the Gospel narratives). In fiction, however, she took a life of her own, gradually becoming the protagonist of the events related to the Death of John the Baptist. When the new art of cinematography started, the "Salomania" was at its peak after the 1893 play by Oscar Wilde and the 1905 opera by Richard Strauss. Salome entered the movies not as a marginal presence but as the protagonist of a long series of films that offered the most famous actresses (and dancers) a vehicle to show their charm and power of seduction.

Sound cinema has had less to offer. The most ambitious attempt at building an original series of events around Salome was made in 1953 with the epic Salome with Rita Hayworth. Most of the Salome movies are video-recordings of the Wilde or Strauss work.

Salome is conspicuously absent in the major Jesus movies with a few exceptions, notably, King of Kings (1961), Il vangelo secondo Matteo (1964). Salome must not be confused with Mary Salome, one of the Three Marys, a character often billed simply as "Salome" in many Jesus movies.

Performing Salome

The 17th, 18th and 19th centuries

Salome has been a singing character in oratorios since the 17th century. The first recorded interpreter of Salome is "Signora Helvertin," who sang the role at the Vienna premiere of Il Batista (1727 Caldara / Zeno), oratorio.

It was Massenet who in 1881 made Salome a leading character also in the opera, interpreted by the most celebrated sopranos (Marthe Duvivier and Emma Calvé was the first interpreter of Massenet's Hérodiade).

In 1895 Loie Fuller was the protagonist of the first solo performance on Salome (The inspiration was still the "biblical", innocent Salome). But everything would rapidly change in 1896 after Lina Munte offered the first portrait of Salome as femme fatales in the premiere of Wilde's play

The 1900s

Emma Calvé was the most celebrated Salome in Massenet's opera at the turn of the century, but the "Salomanie" exploded with actresses such as Gertrud Eysoldt and Tilla Durieux who were protagonists of the famous Berlin production of Wilde's play directed by Max Reinhardt. The premiere of Strauss's opera in 1905 made Salome an overnight sensation, as a singer and a dancer. If the protagonist of the premiere Marie Wittich and many of the first interpreters were still unable or unwilling to dance, the professional dancers who substituted them on the stage for the Dance of the Seven Veils became no less famous. They inspired other dancers to create a solo performances which shocked the audience for their audacity.

With the scandalous 1907 premiere at the Metropolitan the Salomania conquered the United States as well. The Dance of the Seven Veils became a routine in vaudeville and in movies. The success prompted famous actresses Florence Lawrence, Stacia Napierkowska) and singers (Mary Garden) to specialize as dancers as well. In 1908 French composer Mariotte produced a new version of the Salome story and Lina Cavalieri revived the success of Massenet's opera with its 1909 premiere in the United States.

1940s

Probably the most famous of all interpreters of Salome in the 1940s was the Bulgarian soprano Ljuba Welitsch, who sang the part in the presence of composer Richard Strauss at a performance given to mark his 80th birthday in Vienna in 1944 and in numerous other occasions.

Related categories

• John the Baptist
• Herod Antipas / Herodias

External links

• Wikipedia