Hérodiade

The ancient subject matter of Flaubert’s story, which placed actual religious events in a setting of oriental decorum, provided material ideally-suited to the composition of a grand opera. Although Salomé does not perform her famous dance of the seven veils (as in Strauss’s opera), she occupies a central position in this opera. She is passionately in love with Jean-Baptiste and prepared to die with him, while Hérode, beside himself with jealousy, orders the prophet to be beheaded. Although concise, the plot was revised on numerous occasions, while the work was still intended for the Paris Opéra (in French) at the same time as La Scala in Milan (in Italian). Zanardini’s initial storyline was reworked by Milliet, with the assistance of Hartmann, so that the composer could work on the libretto in French. Massenet oversaw the dramatic consistency of the work, strengthening its unity with the use of frequently recurring motifs. The clear structure of the score, the sparkling, sophisticated musical writing, the great choral scenes, the vocal and dramatic demands of the four principal roles were all elements that conformed to the initial brief. However, although Massenet had reached the height of his powers in this work, it was undermined by an overly revised libretto which had gradually drained the title role of substance. Ricordi withdrew his offer and Vaucorbeil refused the work as it was, so Hérodiade was premiered in Brussels instead of Milan or Paris. Massenet revised the overall work many times, for the Italian premiere on 23 February 1882 at La Scala in Milan, the French premiere of 29 March 1883 in Nantes, and the 4-act version of 1 February 1884 at the Théâtre-Italien in Paris, belatedly settling on a definitive version in French in 1903.