Richard Strauss's Salome is one of the great masterpieces of opera. Grand towering drama like Hamlet or Macbeth, with a little of Tolkien thrown in, deep and mystical, all done like the live equivalent of a Steven Spielberg movie from the E.T. era.
One thing that people get confused about is its morality.
They think that it has none.
Hogwash.
This is a very moral opera- just one to shock all the false moralists.
To realize the point of the opera, you must realize that you are supposed to cry for Salome even though she is a sinner.
The whole opera is a cry for us to pity sinners like Salome despite their sins.
To Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin.
This is the heart of Richard Strauss's Salome, and probably of the Oscar Wilde play it is based on. Certainly the Strauss opera.
This is a work to shock all those false moralists out of terrorizing the rest of us in the name of fighting sin, to shock the false moralists into having pity on people.
For even sinners deserve our pity.
Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin.
You still hate the sin. You still oppose sin.
But you take pity on the sinner.
The entire Strauss opera is a cry for us to do just that.
This is an opera to heal the world! For the world needs pity!
God loves you! God would (and does!) do the same for you!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson