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Salome

Salome
theater tickets
Magyar Állami Operaház (Hungarian State Opera House)
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Address
Magyar Állami Operaház (Hungarian State Opera House)
22 Andrássy út
VI. Budapest  
Hungary
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Price
£55.00
Prices shown are a guide to standard adult prices generally available, including any applicable per ticket fees - other concessions may also be available.
Booking from
Fri, 29th May 2009
Booking to
Thu, 4th June 2009
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In the inner courtyard of his place, the tetrarch Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee and Peraea by the grace of the Roman Emperor, holds the prophet Jokanaan captive and sealed off from the world. As the head of an oppositional sect, Jokanaan poses a political danger to the tetrarch. The prophet attacks the dissolute life of the rulers. But Herod, secretly in fear of the prophet, is unwilling to have him put to death.

A banquet is held in the palace. Salome, daughter of Herod’s second wife Herodias from her first marriage, flees the celebrations. When she hears the prophet’s voice, she longs to see him. She wheedles the captain Narraboth into disobeying the tetrarch’s orders and fetching the prisoner out of the cistern in which he is imprisoned. She is fascinated by Jokanaan’s stance, which seems like the antithesis of the mode of life of her own surroundings. But she knows only one way to identify with the new: that of taking sexual possession. Jokanaan refuses her advances.

Searching for Salome, Herod arrives in the courtyard with Herodias and his entourage. He asks Salome to dance for him, swearing to give her whatever she wants. After the dance, Salome demands the head of Jokanaan. The tetrarch, aghast at the prospect of execution, offers her jewels and other treasures, but finally has to fulfill his oath and her desire. The executioner brings Salome Jokanaan’s head. Salome’s bloody revenge is followed by her realization that, with Jokanaan’s death, she has destroyed herself. Herod gives the order to kill Salome.
The State Opera was built to coincide with Friedrich II idealistic view that the arts, science and politics should be symbolised through great architecture. He commissioned his friend and architect, Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff with the job and it was built by 1744. On August 18, 1843 the Opera house was destroyed by fire. A new opera building, with Carl Friedrich Langhans as architect, was inaugurated the following Autumn. In the 1920's the Opera house underwent a major reconstruction and reopened in April 1928. Many famous people have graced the stage such as Felix von Weingartner, Karl Muck, Richard Strauss, and Leo Blech.


Budapest is proud of possessing one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world. The opening performance was held in the neo-Renaissance building, the jewel of the avenue, in 1884 after nine years of construction. The staircase and the auditorium of the palace, designed by one of the best architects of those days Miklós Ybl, are decorated with frescos of eminent Hungarian painters. The first director was Ferenc Erkel, Gustav Mahler held this post for several years. Puccini directed the premiere of two of his operas here.