The Play Salomé by Oscar Wilde

Salomé is unique among playwright Oscar Wilde’s oeuvre for being his only work penned in another language. An Irishman who otherwise wrote exclusively in English, Wilde was partly inspired by Maurice Maeterlinck, a Belgian playwright of Flemish descent, to produce something in French. In adapting the biblical narrative of Herod, Salome (who goes unnamed in the Bible), and the execution of John the Baptist, Wilde was inspired by several previous works. Principal among them was French writer Gustave Flaubert’s novella Hérodias (1877), which Wilde encountered while studying at the University of Oxford with Walter Pater, the eminent Victorian literary critic. Other possible sources of influence include Joris-Karl Huysmans’s 1884 novel À Rebours, which includes descriptions of Gustave Moreau’s paintings Salome Dancing Before Herod (1876), Tattooed Salome (1874), and The Apparition (1876); Stéphane Mallarmé’s verse poem Hérodiade (1864– 98); and Jules Laforgue’s parodic Moralités Légendaires (1887), which comprises a section on Salome.

Wilde drafted the play between October 1891 and January 1892, after which he entrusted the manuscript to four peers (Stuart Merrill, Adolphe Retté, Marcel Schwob, and Pierre Louÿs) whom he charged with correcting his French and making suggestions for revision. Ultimately, the playwright rejected their edits, preferring to retain the strangeness of his idiosyncratic French style. Later in 1892, famed French actress Sarah Bernhardt planned to stage the play—with her starring in the title role—at the Royal English Opera House in London, but the production was canceled by official censors due to a longstanding prohibition on portraying biblical characters on stage. Salomé was finally published simultaneously in Paris and London in 1893. The following year, an English translation was published in London and Boston. The translation was undertaken by none other than Lord Alfred Douglas, Wilde’s secret lover whose father sparked the controversy that would ultimately lead to the author’s conviction of “gross indecency” and subsequent imprisonment.

According to Wilde, Salomé was written with music in mind. In the long letter he wrote to Douglas from prison, De Profundis, he described the play as “like a piece of music” whose “refrains” and “recurring motifs … bind it together as a ballad.” Inspired by the style of Maeterlinck, Wilde incorporates several repeated words and phrases (e.g., “I will kiss your mouth, Iokanaan”) that create an atmosphere of impending doom. Composer Richard Strauss crafted the libretto from Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of the play, condensing specific scenes but leaving the text largely untouched. Several miscellaneous characters in the play—Tigellinus, a Pharisee, a Sadducee, a Nubian, and Manasseh and Ozias—do not appear in the opera. Strauss also shortened several of Herod’s speeches, particularly when he is cataloging the precious gifts he could offer Salome in place of Jochanaan’s severed head, and heated arguments between Herod and Herodias that provide exposition on the circumstances of their marriage. And lastly, in Wilde’s play, Narraboth is referred to simply as “a young Syrian.”

At King Herod’s palace, the young captain Narraboth admires the beautiful princess Salome, who sits at the banquet table with her stepfather, Herod, and his court. A page warns Narraboth that something terrible might happen if he continues to stare at the princess, but Narraboth won’t listen. The voice of Jochanaan is heard from the cellar, where he is kept prisoner, proclaiming the coming of the Messiah. Two soldiers comment on the prophet’s kindness and Herod’s fear of him.

Suddenly Salome appears, disgusted with Herod’s advances toward her and bored by his guests. Jochanaan’s voice is heard again, cursing the sinful life of Salome’s mother, Herodias. Salome asks about the prophet. The soldiers refuse to allow her to speak with him, but Narraboth, unable to resist her, allows Salome to descend into the cellar. At first terrified by the sight of the holy man, Salome quickly becomes fascinated by his appearance, begging him to let her touch his hair, then his skin, and finally his lips. Jochanaan forcefully rejects her. Narraboth, who can’t bear Salome’s desire for another man, stabs himself. Salome, not noticing him and beside herself with excitement, continues to beg for Jochanaan’s kiss. The prophet tells her to save herself by seeking Christ and curses Salome as she returns to the palace above.

Herod appears from the palace, looking for the princess and commenting on the strange look of the moon. When he slips in Narraboth’s blood, he suddenly panics and begins to hallucinate. Herodias angrily dismisses his fantasies and asks him to go back inside with her, but Herod’s attentions are now focused on Salome. He offers her food and wine, but she rejects his advances. From the cellar, Jochanaan resumes his tirades against Herodias, who demands that Herod turn the prophet over to the Jews. Herod refuses, maintaining that Jochanaan is a holy man and has seen God. His words spark an argument among a group of Jews concerning the true nature of God, and two Nazarenes discuss the miracles of Jesus. As Jochanaan continues to accuse her, Herodias demands that he be silenced.

Herod asks Salome to dance for him. She refuses, but when he promises to give her anything she wants, she agrees once she has made him swear to keep his word. Ignoring her mother’s pleas, Salome dances for Herod. The delighted king wants to know what reward she would like, and she innocently asks for the head of Jochanaan on a silver platter. Horrified, the king refuses, and Herodias laughs approvingly at Salome’s choice. Herod offers other rewards, but Salome insists and reminds Herod of his oath. The king finally gives in. As the executioner descends into the cellar, the princess anxiously and impatiently awaits her prize. When the prophet’s head is brought to her, she passionately addresses Jochanaan as if he were still alive and finally kisses his lips. The terrified Herod, outraged and disgusted at Salome’s behavior, orders the soldiers to kill her.

4 B.C.E.
Herod Antipas is recognized as tetrarch by Caesar Augustus. Antipas rules Galilee and Perea as a client state of the Roman Empire.

30 C.E.
John the Baptist is executed by Herod Antipas.

1854
Oscar Wilde is born in Dublin, Ireland. His mother, Jane Francesca Agnes Elgee, is an Anglo-Irish poet who publishes under the pseudonym Speranza. His brother, Willie Wilde, also becomes a poet and journalist.

1864
Richard Strauss is born in Munich in the Kingdom of Bavaria on June 11. He is the older of two children born to the principal horn player at the Court Opera in Munich and the daughter of a wealthy brewer. Strauss’s father Franz oversees his early musical training.

1874
Wilde graduates from Trinity College Dublin with a degree in classics.

1878
Wilde graduates from Magdalen College of the University of Oxford with another degree in classics. While at Oxford, he is introduced to French writer Gustave Flaubert’s novella Hérodias, which later sparks his interest in the story of Salome

1881
Wilde completes his first collection of poetry.

1882
Strauss enrolls at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Wilde goes on a lecture tour of the United States, delivering 141 lectures over the course 11 months and cementing his reputation as the leading champion of aestheticism and dandyism.

1884
Wilde marries Constance Lloyd, an Irish writer. They go on to have two sons.

1885
Strauss is appointed assistant to the great conductor Hans von Bülow in Meiningen. While in Meiningen, Strauss also makes the acquaintance of Alexander Ritter. An important aesthetic mentor, Ritter introduces Strauss to “music of the future,” a musical movement headed by Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt that prioritizes new musical forms (such as tone poems) and the storytelling potential of music.

1886
Strauss returns to Munich to take up a post as the third conductor of the Bavarian State Opera. During his time in Munich, he composes a number of important early works, including several tone poems.

1889
Strauss is appointed Kapellmeister to the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. In the summer, he serves as the assistant conductor at the Bayreuth Festival, a music festival devoted entirely to the performance of Wagner’s works.

1890
Wilde publishes his only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. 1892 Wilde’s comedy Lady Windermere’s Fan premieres in London. French actress Sarah Bernhardt accepts Wilde’s new play Salomé, written in French, for production at the Royal English Opera House in London, but official censors do not approve the work for public performance due to a ban on representing biblical characters on stage.

1893
Wilde’s play Salomé is published simultaneously in Paris and London.

1894
An English translation of Wilde’s play by Lord Alfred Douglas—the playwright’s friend and secret lover—is published in London and Boston.

The premiere of Strauss’s first opera, Guntram, takes place in Weimar in May. In the summer, Strauss makes his conducting debut at Bayreuth.

1895
Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest premieres in London.

Later the same week, Wilde is accused by the Marquess of Queensberry—a British nobleman and father of Lord Alfred Douglas—of being a “sodomite,” or a man who has sex with other men. Against the counsel of his inner circle, Wilde initiates a prosecution against the Marquess for defamatory libel under the Libel Act of 1843. The ensuing trial reveals intimate details about Wilde’s private life, especially his relationships with younger men like Douglas (as well as those thought to be prostitutes), and calls into question the moral qualities of his work. Wilde ultimately drops the case against the Marquess, but the damage to his reputation cannot be undone. He is also left bankrupt after being found liable for his opponent’s legal expenses.

Immediately following the trial, Wilde is arrested and charged with “gross indecency,” a term used in Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885 to describe any homosexual act between men. This amendment made it possible to prosecute homosexual activity even when sodomy could not be legally proven.

In May, Wilde is convicted of gross indecency and sentenced to two years in prison with hard labor. His imprisonment inspires two important works: De Profundis, a 50,000-word letter to Douglas covering their relationship and Wilde’s subsequent conviction, and the long poem Ballad of Reading Gaol.

1896
Salomé premieres in Paris in a production at the Théâtre de la Comédie-Parisienne. 1897 Wilde is released from prison and leaves for France, where he remains until his death.

1898
The Strausses move to Berlin, where Richard has secured one of the most prestigious jobs in Germany: principal conductor of the Staatskapelle Berlin at the Berlin State Opera.

1900
Wilde dies destitute in Paris.

1902
Strauss attends a Berlin performance of Salomé in a German translation by Hedwig Lachmann and directed by Max Reinhardt, Strauss’s close collaborator in years to come.

1905
Strauss’s Salome premieres in Dresden. It is hugely successful, providing the composer with additional income in the form of royalties that significantly augment his salary as a conductor.

Wilde’s play has its United Kingdom premiere in a private London performance.

1907
The opera has its United States premiere at the Metropolitan Opera. Following an outcry from audiences and critics alike—and a campaign waged by the daughter of J. P. Morgan, an influential member of the Met’s board—the work is banned from the Met stage. Salome does not return to the Met for nearly three decades.

1931
Wilde’s play receives its first public performance in the United Kingdom at the Savoy Theatre in London.

1934
Salome receives its second staging at the Met, ending the 27-year ban.