The voice of
Jochanaan (John the Baptist), who is imprisoned in a cistern hard by, is
heard. Salome bids Narraboth, a young Assyrian, bring him forth. Dragged
from his living tomb, Jochanaan denounces the wickedness of Herodias,
but Salome has no ears for his curses. Fascinated by the strange beauty
of the prophet, she pours forth her passion in wild accents. Jochanaan
repulses her and retreats once more to his cistern. Herod and Herodias
now come forth from the banquet, and Herod bids Salome dance. She
extorts a promise from him that he will give her whatever she asks, even
to the half of his kingdom, and dances the dance of the seven veils. The
dance over, she demands the head of Jochanaan. Herod pleads with her in
vain, the executioner is sent into the cistern and the head of Jochanaan
is brought in upon a silver charger. Salome kisses the lifeless lips,
but Herod in wrath and horror cries to his soldiers: 'Kill this woman,'
and as the curtain falls she is crushed beneath their shields. Strauss
is the stormy petrel of modern music, and 'Salome' has aroused more
discussion than anything he has written. Many critics quite the reverse
of prudish have found its ethics somewhat difficult of digestion, while
conservative musicians hold up their hands in horror at its harmonic
audacity. The more advanced spirits find a strange exotic beauty in the
weird harmonies and infinitely suggestive orchestration, and contend
with some justice that a work of art must be judged as such, not as an
essay in didactic morality.
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