It falls to an Irishman, Oscar Wilde, to have crafted one of the quintessential works of fin de siècle decadence.
His 1896 drama Salome crowned centuries of speculation around the Biblical princess, whose erotic dance won her the head of a prophet. "Her lust must needs be infinite, and her perversity without limits," Wilde enthused, "Her pearls must expire on her flesh".
Ten years later, and Wilde's play would form the basis of another succès de scandale, in Richard Strauss’ one-act opera Salome - a score of sweeping scale, in which late Romantic harmony is taken to the very brink of dissolution, in aching rapture.
Strauss’ Salomé is the latest production by Irish National Opera; it features one of the brightest Irish stars on the international scene- Sinéad Campbell Wallace as Salome. The soprano’s exceptional vocal and dramatic gifts have taken her to the highest echelons of the business, starring opposite über-tenors such as Jonas Kaufmann and Piotr Beczala.
This is INO’s third foray into the operas of Richard Strauss, following last year’s enormously successful Der Rosenkavalier, and an innovative staging of Elektra during the covid crisis. Rosenkavalier was a beloved draw for punters, and Elektra worked as a brilliant pandemic project - what was the thinking behind Salome as the latest INO enterprise?
Herod, with a vision of John the Baptist's severed head.
Fergus Sheil is Artistic Director and principal maestro of Irish National Opera; for him, the choice of opera revolves first and foremost around its leading lady. "The piece is a tremendous fit for Sinéad Campbell Wallace, who will be the first Irish soprano to sing the role", he observes. It’s the third INO leading role for Campbell-Wallace; having previously sung Leonore in Beethoven’s Fidelio, and Puccini’s Tosca.
Sheil also cites his admiration of Wilde’s writing, and the Irish connection, as a factor in the enterprise. Regarding the Strauss incarnation of Salome, he describes it in glowing terms. "Salome is a very dramatic opera," he says. "Strauss does not lose a moment… It’s like a highly dramatic play evolving in real time, but with the extraordinary extra dimension of a 67-piece frenetic orchestra that underpins every tiny moment of interpersonal nuance and all the grand sweeps of intoxicating drama. The opera is compact in duration (under two hours) but expansive in its emotional landscape."
For INO Executive Director Diego Fasciati, Salome offers a rich and rare experience, for both performer and audience. "I think it's more like a really intricate, luscious film score from classic Hollywood film noir - that’s what the music is," he explains. "And I think that if you just go in and listen to the orchestra, you will immediately feel what I think Strauss wanted us to feel, and Oscar Wilde, at some points… It has this feeling of otherness, and I think that matches perfectly Wilde’s play, because that’s what he wanted to achieve as well".
Wilde wrote Salome in French; Fasciati relates how the author chose to express himself in a language other than English, to aspire to the subject’s otherworldly premise. It was initially crafted as a vehicle for actress Sarah Bernhardt - to showcase her talents, Wilde tilted the lens away from other characters in the drama, primarily Queen Herodiade and her husband-stroke-brother-in-law, Herod. The gaze is focused on this teenage girl, a vessel of innocence and corruption, and her implacable longing for the body of the prophet Jochanaan.
Watch a scene from the 2017 RSC production of Salome
Richard Strauss first came across Wilde's Salome in a German translation by Hedwig Lachmann; the story goes that he came away from the play, already composing its score in his head. Diego Fasciati points to how Strauss’ score emulates the ritual elements in Wilde’s text: the symbolic recurrence of events and objects, the endless metaphors which relate to the moon and nature. These are conveyed through use of Leitmotifs, or musical phrases associated with a particular idea or person. Significantly, Strauss also took up the challenge of Wilde’s own spin on the Salome story, the Dance of the Seven Veils.
To clarify, the whole 'Seven Veils' bit was entirely Wilde’s idea. In the Biblical source of the Salome tale, the gospels of Mark and Matthew, we’re told that the girl danced for her stepfather to arouse his lust- essentially, pimped out by her mother, to contrive a death sentence for John the Baptist. In Wilde’s telling, Salome’s dance is driven by her thwarted desire for the prophet - and in a gesture which howls of erotic symbolism, Wilde gives the direction for seven veils. In some circles, he’s credited as the progenitor of the striptease; yet another feather in the cap of Ireland’s most fabulous son.
In Strauss' opera, the Dance presents a multi-faceted tone poem for orchestra, driven by increasing frenzy, as Salome reveals her soul (and more). Hence Strauss’ conundrum: how to find an operatic soprano who could also carry off an extended dance as part of her role? Its first interpreter, Marie Wittich responded with the immortal one-line hissy fit: "I won’t do it, I’m a decent woman!" And that’s just part of the problem. Salome is represented as a teenage girl, yet her role demands a singer of olympian range, power and stamina. And she has to dance. Over years, opera directors have approached the paradox in different ways: splitting the role between a singer and a dancer, clever lighting, all the rest…
For this INO production, Sinéad Campbell Wallace does it all. Diego Fasciati lays out the measure of her achievement: "It’s a difficult role vocally; it’s difficult to learn, it’s long. And then, after you’ve had to sing for a good 80 minutes and do the Dance of the Seven Veils for a good 10 minutes - then, you have this huge finale, which is both vocally and emotionally very difficult. It takes somebody with stamina, and somebody who can really do it".
Irish National Opera's Salome promises to be an extraordinary event: led by a diva at the top of her game, with a cast and production to match, and a creative team that includes director Bruno Ravella, who also directed 2023’s Der Rosenkavalier, plus distinguished set designer Leslie Travers. Baritone Tómas Tómasson takes on the role of the prophet Jochanaan; he previously starred opposite Sinéad Campbell Wallace as Scarpia in the INO production of Tosca. As Diego Fasciati wryly notes, she’ll get to kill him all over again.
It’s a powerhouse enterprise: but what does Richard Strauss’ Salome offer the 21st century audience? I ask. Fasciati is quick to answer: "To me, it’s like a really good double episode of Succession," he grins. "It’s really powerful people who have completely lost a sense of reality, who live in their own world and who make up their own rules. And this young woman - she just becomes obsessed with one thing and it ends up costing his life. I think it’s a really good look at what happens when power goes unchecked".
How beautiful is the Princess Salome tonight… prepare for divine decadence.
Irish National Opera's production of Salome is at the Wexford Opera House on Sunday March 3rd, and at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Dublin on March 12th, 14th and 16th - find out more here.
