Richard Strauss composed his single-act opera Salome with a German text and created an additional French version in which he undertook alterations to the vocal parts. He subsequently made retouches in the original score for a performance featuring Maria Rajdl in 1929 which, together with alterations referring to the method of conducting, also displays the character of an altered version. According to most recent research, the Reduced version and other forms of the work were not undertaken personally by Richard Strauss.

The current volume features the printed musical text of the German version dating from 1905. The French version and the retouches will be published in Series I, Vol. 3b.

The musical text of the current edition is fundamentally based on an early printed edition of the score which was supervised by Strauss and must initially be considered as the latest valid version to be approved by the composer. This version was compared in a careful consideration with the autograph and other historical musical sources relevant to the current edition such as also the supervised and therefore authorised first and early print material (piano reduction, parts and galley proofs). Smaller and more substantial alterations were however undertaken to the musical text after the printing process, originating from performance practice; what is more, a new edition of the work in the form of a study score was planned in the 1930s. It was therefore necessary to consider all of these alterations realised in the musical text after printing to assess their relevance to the current edition.

Documentation relating to the vocal text, correspondence cited in this volume and further documents referring to the history of origin and performance are published in complete form on the online platform: richard-strauss-ausgabe.de.

The edition Richard Strauss Works · Critical Edition (RSW) is the first scholarly critical edition of Richard Strauss’s complete musical oeuvre. Up until now, the majority of his compositions have been available only in largely uncorrected reprints of older publications. In the new edition, all compositions in major genres – the complete stage works, orchestral works, lieder and songs, and chamber music – are newly edited and published in 64 volumes. The edition also incorporates different versions and fragments alongside a documentation of the sources, the genesis of individual works, and performance variations authorised by the composer. The edition consists of printed musical volumes with integrated critical reports and is augmented by an online platform featuring text comparisons and annotated collections of documents. The extensive introductions and footnotes are written in German and English.

Members of the Honorary Board: S. K. H. Franz Herzog von Bayern, Renée Fleming, Mariss Jansons (†), Prof. Dr. Peter Ruzicka, Prof. Dr. Alexander Strauss, Dr. Christian Strauss (†), Christian Thielemann

5 Facts about the edition:
*The first scholarly edition of the works of Richard Strauss
*Issued by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Munich under the direction of Hartmut Schick in cooperation with the Richard Strauss Institute in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Work undertaken in the Richard Strauss Edition Research Centre at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich.
*The first volumes – Macbeth, Lieder Op. 10–29 and Don Juan – have been issued in April 2017.
*Critical reports are included in each volume; text comparisons and annotated collections of documents are available in digital form.
*Performance material to accompany the edition is in preparation.