Opera: "Salome" and "Heriodade"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Richard Strauss in the opera "Salome" and Jules Massenet in "Heriodade" treat the story of John, the Baptist and Salome in different ways. The author points out that these differences reflect the time of composition and the societies of which the composers were a part. The paper relates that the composers had different motivations for the characters, different theological concerns regarding the story and different musical concerns. The author underscores that the opera by Massenet was a product of what would be called in England the Victorian Age, while the opera by Strauss came during the Edwardian era. The paper discusses that the treatment of women in these opera are different.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Women and Opera
Women in Two Operas

From the Paper:

"The opera depicts two women, Salome and Herodias. In this version, Salome is quite different from the image the world would have of her later, for she is essentially moral, even virginal, and seeks to protect John rather than to destroy him. She is herself a victim and not a perpetrator. Indeed, she is also sentenced tob e beheaded and professes her love to John while they are both in a dungeon. Her mother is the villain in this version, and the character of the mother is more like that would later be attributed to Salome herself."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Clement, C. (1988). Opera, or the Undoing of Women. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
• Conrad, P. (1987). A Song of Love and Death. New York: Poseidon Press.
• Huebner, S. (1999). French Opera at the Fin de Siecle: Wagnerism, Nationalism, and Style. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Jules Emil Frederic Massenet (2007). GMN Classical Plus. Retrieved May 9, 2006 from http://classicalplus.gmn.com/composers/composer.asp?id=761.
• Lenton, S. (2007). Salome. EnoBaylis. Retrieved May 10, 2007 from http://www.eno.org/src/Salome.pdf.

More papers on Opera: "Salome" and "Heriodade":

• Comparison Essay # 133629 : "Women in Opera"
• Research Paper # 92672 : "Orientalism in the Opera "Turandot"
• Essay # 74065 : "Italian Opera"

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