The final chords of Richard Strauss's opera Salome are indeed puzzling; they create a sudden modulation from C-sharp major to C minor at the very end of the opera. I propose the concept of the 'distorted authentic cadence' to interpret these puzzling chords.

The distorted authentic cadence involves the V6/4-V5/3-I progression with scale degrees 5-5-1 in the bass, but each chord belongs to a different key. When we hear the accented six-four chord on the downbeat, it leads to the expectation of a dominant resolution. Instead of a dominant in the original C-sharp major, we hear a dominant seventh chord in E major/minor. The dominant seventh chord in E major/minor again creates the expectation of a tonic resolution in the same key; however, the final passage shows the expanded C minor triad as a tonic resolution. This three-chord progression shows a V6/4-V5/3-I progression with scale degrees 5-5-1 in the bass, but it is distorted by occurring across different key areas. Through this distorted authentic cadence, the music returns from C-sharp major to C minor, juxtaposing the two main keys in Salome.

The juxtaposition of C-sharp major and C minor tonic chords is part of a broken passage in which the common cadential progression is displaced in terms of key, yet both chords function as tonics. This could be understood as a harmonic structural tension creating a grotesque, related to the dismemberment of Jochanaan's body, a central moment in Strauss's Salome.