In 1907, The Metropolitan Opera in New York held its premiere of Salome by Richard Strauss. Replete with themes of sex, vengeance, violence, all to a biblical story, the opera was sure to sex, er, set hairs on edge.

But no one expected this...

The dress rehearsal of the famous opera invited guests and patrons to attend for a preview of the new work. The guests were invited on a Sunday afternoon to attend the Met, and were shown lascivious dancing, a singer sensually kissing the decapitated head of a saint, and themes of sex and violence.

Who else was in attendance that afternoon, but the daughter of the famous J.P. Morgan, who spent the performance clutching her pearls at the terrible controversy that she beheld. She swiftly contacted her father, and told him about what she saw. Mr. Morgan was an important patron of the Met, and on the Board of Directors, and ensured that the work only saw a SINGLE performance.

Not only that, the work was BANNED and wasn't performed again for nearly 30 YEARS. The opening (and closing night) was panned in the press. The New York Tribune headlined "Salome’ Disgusts Its Hearers" and the New York Times panned "Many Disgusted by the Dance and the Kissing of the Dead Head." Despite some being intrugued by the music, the critics and puritans ensured it wouldn't been seen again at the Met for a generation!

https://www.metopera.org/metoperafiles/season/2016-17/operas/salome/programs/120916%20Salome.pdf https://www.operanews.com/operanews/issue/article.aspx?id=174&issueID=9&archive=true https://books.google.ca/books?id=U1hbfbg6zUMC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false