While addressing the same story—more or less—as Richard Strauss' Salome, Massenet's work, written nearly a quarter century earlier, employs both a different perspective and a notion of sensuality far removed from that embodied in the German composer's obsessed teenager. The variance in titles is instructive. Strauss focused on Salome, Massenet (despite what he labeled his opera) on the entire central assortment of characters. Strauss' John the Baptist despises Salome with the fervor of an unwavering prophet. Massenet's Jean loves Salomé, however much he wishes he did not. Strauss' Herodias is a scold, unremittingly antagonistic toward the husband who lusts after her acknowledged daughter. Massenet's Hérodiade is not only the title character, but a woman anguished and perplexed by her husband's eye for the youthful Salomé, a girl she doesn't know is her daughter.

The music, too, differs enormously. National origin and public taste of course play a huge part. While Massenet's score is alternatingly voluptuous and fragrantly sensual in a fashion appreciated by the French, Strauss' work breaks new ground in its overt, grisly sexuality, every element of it blatantly echoed in his immense and unrelenting orchestra.

Although Massenet's score was completed by May 1881, a planned production at La Scala fell through. With the path seemingly open to the Paris Opéra, Massenet gathered courage and presented his opera to the new Director, Auguste-Emmanuel Vaucorbeil, himself a composer. With their first meeting, Massenet realized that the Opéra was closed to him. The directors of Brussels' Théâtre de la Monnaie, however, were only too happy to commit to a production. Several hundred opera enthusiasts made the trip from Paris for the premiere, which was further honored by the presence of the Belgian Queen. Hérodiade was presented a remarkable 55 times at the Monnaie in that first season alone. Soon thereafter, it was presented at many of Europe's other important houses before finally reaching Paris in 1884, where it was offered in Italian.

Strauss' Salome quickly overtook Hérodiade in public favor in the new century, despite the vociferous receptions accorded Massenet's opera during its first several decades. By the late twentieth century, Hérodiade was a curiosity, revived only occasionally, seldom in America.

Still, the public has remained aware of Hérodiade both through recordings and for two arias favored by singers for recitals and concerts. Salomé's "Il est Doux, Il est Bon" and Hérode's "Vision Fugitive" are both memorable examples of French aria, both languorous and effective vehicles for singers with sensuous instruments and an elegant approach to interpretation. Jean's Act Four aria likewise is an inspired and well-crafted moment, not unknown to followers of French vocal art. The fortunes of Hérodiade, like those of most of Massenet's other operas and French opera in general, rise and fall with the availability of artists who sing the French language expressively and who possess voices of strength, beauty, and refinement.

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