This is not the place to dilate
upon Strauss's achievements as a symphonic writer, which are
sufficiently well known to the world at large. His first opera,
'Guntram' (1894), was hardly more than an exercise in the manner of
Wagner, and made comparatively little impression. 'Feuersnoth' (1901)
was a far more characteristic production. It deals with an old legend of
the love of a sorcerer for a maiden. The sorcerer is rejected, and in
revenge he deprives the town in which the maiden lives of fire and
light. The townspeople press the maiden to relent, and her yielding is
signalised by a sudden blaze of splendour. Strauss's score shows to the
full the amazing command of polyphony and the bewildering richness and
variety of orchestration which have made his name famous. The plot of
'Feuersnoth,' however, was against it, and it does not seem to have won
a permanent success. 'Salome' (1906), on the other hand, has triumphed
in Italy and Paris as well as in Germany, and succeeded in scandalising
New York so seriously that it was withdrawn after a single performance.
'Salome' is a setting, almost unabbreviated, of Oscar Wilde's play of
that name, which itself owed much to a tale by Flaubert. The scene is
laid upon a terrace of Herod's palace, where soldiers are keeping watch
while the king holds revel within. Salome, the daughter of Herodias,
issues from the banquet chamber, troubled by Herod's gaze.
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