Herod lusts after his stepdaughter Salome and insists on seeing her dance. Salome longs to kiss the mouth of the imprisoned John the Baptist – a prophet of doom who loses himself in hate speech.

Take a philandering and arrogant Count who is no match for his wily servant Figaro and his soon-to-be-wife Susanna, as manipulative as she is charming. Add in one beautiful, disillusioned Countess and one irrepressible, testosterone-laden teenage boy Cherubino. Mix with the genius of Mozart and you have one of the most perfect operas ever written.

Met performances of Strauss’s white-hot one-act tragedy, which receives its first new production at the company in 20 years. Claus Guth, one of Europe’s leading opera directors, gives the biblical story—already filtered through the beautiful and strange imagination of Oscar Wilde’s play—a psychologically perceptive Victorian-era setting rich in symbolism and subtle shades of darkness and light.

The beautiful but icy Princess Turandot will only marry a man who can correctly answer three riddles. Those who fail are brutally beheaded. But when an unknown prince arrives, the balance of power in Turandot’s court is forever shaken, as the mysterious stranger does what no other has been able to.

Raised by a scheming dwarf and unaware of his true family origins, a young man embarks on an epic journey.

In war-torn Rome, Floria Tosca and Mario Cavaradossi live for each other and for their art. But when Cavaradossi helps an escaped prisoner, the lovers make a deadly enemy in the form of Baron Scarpia, Chief of Police. At the mercy of Scarpia’s twisted desires, Tosca is forced to make a horrific bargain: sleeping with the man she hates in order to save the man she loves. Can she find a way out?

Tatyana spends her days lost in the world of romantic books, while to her carefree sister Olga, love is just a game. When Olga’s admirer, the poet Lensky, arrives at their country estate with the brooding Eugene Onegin, sparks fly. Tatyana immediately falls for Onegin and declares her love for him in a letter. Onegin rejects her, telling her that he is not ready for marriage. Heartbroken, Tatyana is forced to put on a brave face at her own birthday party, and matters worsen when Onegin begins flirting with Olga. Lensky is outraged and challenges Onegin to a duel, with deadly consequences. Years later, Onegin and Tatyana meet again at a ball in St Petersburg. Haunted by grief and regret, Onegin realises he has made a terrible mistake. But does Tatyana still feel the same?

Richard Strauss's opera, from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

King Herod, deeply unpopular organizes a feast to impress his Roman overlords. In a drunken state he entices his beautiful step daughter to dance, promising her anything she wishes.

This filmed version of Strauss' shocker features Teresa Stratas as opera's most depraved teenager, and she's as perfect a Salome as one would ever hope to see or hear. Stratas inhabits the role, exploring the character's sensuousness as she vainly woos Jochanaan, her venomous hatred when she's rejected, the crazed look in her eyes when she demands his head--on a silver platter, no less. Such complete identification with a role, especially of a character so malignant helps make this 1974 Salome stand out among the many fine DVDs of the opera.