‘That invisible dance’. Reflections on the ‘Dance of the Seven Veils’ in Richard Strauss's Salome

Abstract

The Dance of the Seven Veils is one of the main reasons for the scandalous success of Richard Strauss's Salome, whose premiere in Dresden on 9 December 1905 shook the musical world and brought extraordinary fame to its author. Just as Oscar Wilde, in the play on which Strauss based his libretto, had written no instructions as to how the dance should be performed, the composer left this section of the opera to the imagination. The quotation in the title of this article is taken from Wilde's inscription to Aubrey Beardsley in his copy of ‘Salomé’ and aims to draw attention to the ambiguous nature of the dance in Strauss's opera. The source of endless fascination and moral disapproval, his Dance of the Seven Veils is characterized by contradictions: it marks a stasis as well as a frenzied advancement of the plot; it is performed to pleasure the king and yet it is also Salome's supreme moment of self-expression; it is a separate entity from the opera and yet it is at the heart of the story. In my article, I will examine the role of this pivotal episode within the opera and highlight its uniqueness as an early example of modern expressive dance on the operatic stage. I will also mention other examples of the use of dance in literature and music, with a particular focus on the works of Heinrich Heine. Finally, I will analyze Strauss's own scenario for the piece, which he wrote many years after the opera was first performed. This is a text of important documentary value despite the fact that, ironically, the composer's choreographic suggestions amplify the sense of the elusive quality of the piece.