Samson Et Dalila

''Samson and Delilah'' (french: Samson et Dalila, links=no), Op. 47, is a grand opera in three acts and four scenes by Camille Saint-Saëns to a French libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire. It was first performed in Weimar at the (Grand Ducal) Theater (now the Staatskapelle Weimar) on 2 December 1877 in a German translation.

The opera is based on the Biblical tale of Samson and Delilah found in Chapter 16 of the Book of Judges in the Old Testament. It is the only opera by Saint-Saëns that is regularly performed. The second act love scene in Delilah's tent is one of the set pieces that define French opera. Two of Delilah's arias are particularly well known: "" ("Spring begins") and "" ("My heart opens itself to your voice", also known as "Softly awakes my heart"), the latter of which is one of the most popular recital pieces in the mezzo-soprano/contralto repertoire.

Composition history

In the middle of the 19th century, a revival of interest in choral music swept France, and Saint-Saëns, an admirer of the oratorios of Handel and Mendelssohn, made plans to compose an oratorio on the subject of Samson and Delilah as suggested by Voltaire's libretto ''Samson'' for Rameau. The composer began work on the theme in 1867, just two years after completing his first (and as then yet unperformed) opera, '' Le timbre d'argent''. Saint-Saëns had approached Ferdinand Lemaire, the husband of one of his wife's cousins, about writing a libretto for the oratorio but Lemaire convinced the composer that the story was better suited to an opera.

Saint-Saëns later wrote:

A young relative of mine had married a charming young man who wrote verse on the side. I realized that he was gifted and had in fact real talent. I asked him to work with me on an oratorio on a biblical subject. 'An oratorio!', he said, 'no, let's make it an opera!', and he began to dig through the Bible while I outlined the plan of the work, even sketching scenes, and leaving him only the versification to do. For some reason I began the music with act 2, and I played it at home to a select audience who could make nothing of it at all.

After Lemaire finished the libretto, Saint-Saëns began actively composing act 2 of the opera, producing an aria for Dalila, a duet for Samson and Dalila, and some musical pieces for the chorus (some of which were later assigned to act 1) during 1867–1869. From the very beginning, the work was conceived as a grand duet between Samson and Dalila set off against the approaching tempest. Although the orchestration was not yet complete, act 2 was presented in a private performance in 1870 just prior to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War with Saint-Saëns playing the orchestral parts, which were largely improvised, on the piano. Composer Augusta Holmès (Dalila), painter Henri Regnault (Samson), and Romain Bussine (High Priest) rendered their roles from part books.Huebner, pp. 206–212
In spite of many precedents, the French public reacted negatively to Saint-Saëns's intention of putting a Biblical subject on the stage. The alarm on the part of the public caused him to abandon working further on the opera for the next two years.

In the summer of 1872, not too long after the premiere of Saint-Saëns's second opera '' La princesse jaune'', the composer went to Weimar to see the first revival of Wagner's '' Das Rheingold'' under the baton of Franz Liszt, the former musical director of the Weimar court orchestra and opera. Liszt was highly interested in producing new works by talented composers and persuaded Saint-Saëns to finish ''Samson and Delilah'', even offering to produce the completed work at the grand-ducal opera house in Weimar. Encouraged, Saint-Saëns began composing act 1 in late 1872 and worked on it sporadically for the next few years. He wrote a large amount of act 1 and completed it during a trip to Algiers in 1874. Upon returning to France in 1875, Saint-Saëns presented act 1 in Paris at the Théâtre du Châtelet in a similar format as the 1870 performance of act 2. The work was harshly received by music critics and failed to gain the public's interest. That same year acclaimed mezzo-soprano Pauline Viardot, for whom Saint-Saëns wrote the role of Dalila, organized and performed in a private performance of act 2 at a friend's home in Croissy, with the composer at the piano. Viardot was a great admirer of the work and she hoped that this private performance would encourage Halanzier, the director of the Paris Opéra who was in attendance, to mount a full production. Although Saint-Saëns completed the score in 1876, no opera houses in France displayed any desire to stage ''Samson et Dalila''. Liszt's sustained support however led to the work being mounted in Weimar in 1877.

Performance history

Premiere in Weimar

Although Liszt was no longer the musical director in Weimar, he still exerted a powerful influence at the Weimar court. Eduard Lassen, the director who followed Liszt at Weimar, owed much of his success to his celebrated predecessor, and Liszt used his influence to arrange the premiere of ''Samson et Dalila'' with Lassen on the podium during the 1877/1878 season. The libretto was duly translated into German for the production and the opera's first performance was given on 2 December 1877 at the Grossherzogliches Theatre (Grand Ducal Theater). Viardot was too old to sing Delilah so the role was entrusted to Auguste von Müller, a resident performer at the Weimar opera house. Although a resounding success with the Weimar critics and audience, the opera was not immediately revived in other opera houses.

Beginning of international popularity in the 1890s

After the numerous setbacks it suffered in its early years, ''Samson et Dalila'' finally began to attract the attention of the world's great opera houses during the 1890s. Although the next new production of ''Samson et Dalila'' was in Germany at the Hamburg State Opera in 1882, afterwards the opera was not seen again until it was performed for the first time in France at the Théâtre des Arts in Rouen on 3 March 1890 with Carlotta Bossi as Dalila and Jean-Alexandre Talazac as Samson. The opera received its Paris premiere at the Éden-Théâtre on 31 October 1890 with Rosine Bloch as Dalila and Talazac singing Samson once again, this time with a much warmer reception by Paris audiences. Over the next two years, performances were given in Bordeaux, Geneva, Toulouse, Nantes, Dijon, and Montpellier. The Paris Opéra finally staged the opera on 23 November 1892 in a performance under the supervision of Saint-Saëns conducted by Édouard Colonne with Blanche Deschamps-Jéhin as Dalila and Edmond Vergnet as Samson. Directed by Lapissida, the staging had costumes by Charles Bianchini and sets by Amable and Eugène Gardy (acts 1 and 2), and Eugène Carpezat (act 3). The performance was lauded by critics and spectators alike.

''Samson et Dalila'' also earned a great deal of popularity outside France during the 1890s. The opera debuted successfully in Monaco at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo on 15 March 1892. This was followed by the opera's United States premiere at Carnegie Hall in a concert version on 25 March 1892. The first staged performance of the opera in the U.S. was held at the French Opera House, New Orleans

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