Architectonics of the "Dance of The Seven Veils "From Richard Strauss's Opera "Salome" Through the Prism of Historical Reconstruction
Authors: Kasyanova Olena 
Published: March 2022

The phenomenon of the popularity of R. Strauss's opera "Salome" is explained through the prism of a new paradigm of performing arts, which is due to the rethinking of works of the modern era in the context of postmodern aesthetics. A comprehensive intersectional integrated analysis of musicological, iconographic, culturological, theological, social, psychological and physiological components of the work has been carried out. The methodology of key aspects of the research is determined: features of musical drama — genre-stylistic; content of ancient entertainments —historical and stylistic reconstruction; creation of psychological portraits of characters — system analysis; the concept of dance in opera is an interpretive method. The libretto of the opera is compared with O. Wilde's drama highlighting differences in the image of the main character: in the drama — two "Salome lines", in the libretto — three with the addition of "Dance of the Seven Veils" as an important scene in the conflict, personifying the story of the tragic love of a young princess. The peculiarities of the musical drama of the dance scene in the opera are studied, two opposing points of view on its role and place in the score of the work, the thoughts of the composer R. Strauss on this subject are outlined. The nature of dance entertainment at the courts of ancient rulers, the specifics of the performance of dances "Almeh" and "Ghawazi", which could serve as a prototype of the "Dance of the Seven Veils" performed by princess Salome is described in the article. The stylistics of the "Almeh" dances included a demonstration of highly artistic eroticism, and the "Ghawazi" dances a Bacchic seduction. In the dance scene, it is possible to combine these opposite patterns in the context to solve the musical drama of the work. The psychological and physiological features of Salome's age are analyzed, her characteristic features are explained, which could elucidate the logic of the young princess's actions. Psychological portraits of Salome, Jochanaan, Herodes and Herodias have been made, which directly or indirectly influence the specifics of the interpretation of the dance scene. The key aspects of the architectonics of the specified scene, the content of its parts, the correspondence of the nature of the dance performance to their content are determined, which determines the scientific novelty of the research. The results of the research are compared with modern incarnations of the dance scene in the opera, their partial correspondence is revealed in four out of five parts of dance drama, except for the development of the action. In the latter, there is a loss of tempo due to the mismatch between the gradual growth and decline of the musical drama of the dance scene with its choreographic embodiment. The necessity of using the concept of different branches of knowledge to establish a holistic picture of events in this scene is proved. Prospects for research of the chosen issues through the prism of the latest achievements in the field of musical theater, the attraction of modern interpretations to neo-syncretism are predicted.