Samson et Dalila
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| Title: | Samson and Dalila |
| Original title: | Samson et Dalila |
Stage design for a performance at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona in 1897 |
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| Shape: | Opera in three acts and four pictures |
| Original language: | French |
| Music: | Camille Saint-Saëns |
| Libretto : | Ferdinand Lemaire |
| Literary source: | Book of Judges |
| Premiere: | December 2, 1877 |
| Place of premiere: | Weimar Court Theater |
| Playing time: | approx. 2 ½ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Gaza in Palestine, around 1150 BC Chr. |
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Samson et Dalila is an opera in three acts written between 1868 and 1877 by Camille Saint-Saëns (Op. 47) based on a libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire . The plot is based on the biblical book of judges and is between 1100 and 1000 BC. To apply. Samson et Dalila is the only one of the 13 operas by Saint-Saëns that was able to assert itself on the stage. Despite the successful premiere in German under the direction of Eduard Lassen and the artistic director Franz Liszt at the Weimar Court Theater in December 1877, it was not until 1890 before the opera was performed in France. Saint-Saëns also edited the work after the premiere and added further parts to it.
Biblical background
The plot of the opera is based on the Book of Judges , chapters 13-16. The people of Israel immigrated to Palestine in the time of Joshua after leaving Egypt . Disregarding the first commandment , it fell back into polytheism and worshiped the Canaanite gods alongside Yahweh . As a punishment for this, it fell into the bondage of the Philistines .
A turning point came with the appearance of the legendary Samson . This was promised to his sterile mother by an angel as the liberator of the people and a devotee who was not allowed to have his head hair shaved. As a lone fighter, Samson was often placed in the tradition of the heroes and, like Heracles, had superhuman powers. His character was quick-tempered and violent. According to the Book of Judges, his adversary and seductress Delila , who snatched his secret from him and thereby brought him down, was a greedy woman who acted on behalf of the Philistine princes.
Even after the time of Samson, the people of Israel continued to find themselves in armed conflicts with the Philistines, who, according to biblical information, were not defeated until the time of David .
Plot of the opera
The theme of the opera is the beginning of the freedom struggle of the Hebrews who fell into slavery, an examination of the polytheism of the Philistines, and the legendary figure of Samson. In contrast to the biblical tradition, the Dalila of the opera is a hierodule and priestess of the Dagon .
Duration of the performance: first act 0:50 h, second act 0:45 h, third act 0:40 h, a total of about 2 hours and 15 minutes.
first act
Square in front of the Dagon Temple in Gaza
The opera begins with a choir scene introduced by a short prelude. The subjugated Hebrews lament their bondage to the Philistines. In their desperation, they argue with Jéhovah , who has freed them from the bondage of Egypt, but has now left them in the lurch. Then Samson emerges from their ranks and gives them new hope. After the Hebrews have taken courage to fight for their freedom with Samson, the Philistine governor Abimélech joins soldiers, mocks Jéhovah and praises Dagon as the highest god. Samson faces him and calls for a fight. When Abimélech draws his sword, Samson grabs it and knocks him down with it. The Philistines who want to come to the aid of Abimélech are pushed back by Samson and he is able to escape with the Hebrews.
The high priest Dagons finds the body and has two Philistines and a messenger tell him that the Hebrew slaves under their leader Samson are rebelling and burning the fields. He swears vengeance and curses Samson and the people of Israel in the name of their gods. After the Philistines take the body, the Hebrews reappear. Samson also comes along with his victorious army. Then the gates of the temple open and Dalila steps out with some priestesses of the Dagon, supposedly to celebrate the victorious heroes, but actually to entice them erotically, where they also perform a dance. Samson cannot escape Dalila's temptations and stares at her spellbound. An old Hebrew warns Samson in vain of the new ruse.
Second act
The garden in front of Dalila's house in the Sorek valley
Samson has won more victories. Dalila expects Samson to avenge the gods on him. She is full of hatred and wants to see him as a slave at her feet. The high priest of Dagon encourages her to weaken Samson during the night so that he falls into the hands of the Philistines. Dalila complains that she could not fathom Samson's secret despite asking three times. Samson has repeatedly torn away from her to go into battle. Now Samson is gripped by a new glow of love, and she hopes to snatch the secret from him. Both swear vengeance.
Samson has fallen under Dalila's spell and comes to Dalila's house against his will. In a big love scene, Dalila tries to ensnare Samson again. At first he refuses, speaks of his mission and calls himself a slave to his god. He had come to say goodbye to her in spite of his love. In between flashes of lightning flash as a sign from heaven to remind Samson of his duty. Dalila tries again. With "Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix" (Eng. "See, my heart opens up", literally "My heart opens to your voice") she can finally ensnare him, and she asks again for his secret. Finally, Samson follows her into the house, accompanied by a violent clap of thunder. In an interlude, accompanied by further claps of thunder, it is suggested that Dalila snatched his secret from him and shaved his hair. The act ends with Dalila calling the Philistine soldiers from the window. Samson complains “Trahison!” (“Treason!”).
Third act
In the third act it is assumed that Samson lost his gigantic powers by shearing his hair. Then the Philistines were able to overpower him in Dalila's house and burned his eyes out. Samson has to do slave labor from now on.
First picture. In Gaza prison
Samson turns a millstone and laments his fate. The Hebrews chant from behind the stage accusing them of betraying Samson over a woman. Meanwhile, Samson pleads to God that he may save the people despite his wrongdoing. God should accept his life as a sacrifice. Some Philistines lead Samson out of the dungeon.
Second picture. The interior of the Dagon Temple
The high priest, Dalila, and Philistines celebrate an orgiastic festival that culminates in the bacchanal (ballet). Samson is brought in by a child. The high priest and the Philistines mock Samson. Dalila approaches him with a trophy and scornfully reminds him of his case. The melody of Dalila's aria “Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix” from the second act is played, distorted into a parody. The Philistine choir also laughs at the subsequent mockery of the high priest by Samson in a satirically exaggerated manner. In the ensuing sacrificial song to Dagon, the high priest demands that Samson bend his knees in front of Dagon. Samson pleads with God again and asks the child to lead him between the two pillars. During another sacrificial hymn, he embraces the pillars, and God gives him back his former strength. The pillars sway and the temple collapses amid the cry of those gathered.
Instrumentation
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : three flutes (3rd also piccolo ), two oboes , English horn , two clarinets , bass clarinet , two bassoons , contrabassoon
- Brass : four horns , two trumpets , two pistons , three trombones , bass tuba , two ophicleids
- three timpani , percussion : bass drum , cymbal triangle , glockenspiel , castanets , finger cymbals, tambourine , tam-tam
- two harps
- Strings
- Incidental music: bell in F sharp
Origin and style
Saint-Saëns had been concerned with the Samson theme for a long time and initially planned an oratorio , but was persuaded by his librettist Lemaire in 1868 to work out the material as a thoroughly composed opera. The often rather static choir scenes still reveal the original conception of the work. In the tradition of the rediscovery of Bach's oratorios in musical romanticism, Saint-Saëns also used fugues in the first and third acts , which was unusual for operas of his time. In contrast, the argument between Dalila and the high priest of Dagon in the second act, the seduction scene and the bacchanal based on oriental melodies with ballet in the third act are typical of the opera. Saint-Saëns also worked with leitmotifs ; so he characterized Dalila by a shimmering orchestral sound.
The composition took place in several phases, with Saint-Saëns also using earlier works. The opening choir “Dieu d'Israël” dates from 1859, and an older Turkish march was integrated into the Bacchanal. The dance of the priestesses Dagons from the first act also comes from an earlier creative phase. Saint-Saëns began actually composing the opera in 1868. When designing the part of Dalila, he initially thought of the mezzo-soprano Pauline Viardot , whom he held in high regard and to whom he dedicated the completed work. However, Viardot-Garcia could no longer impersonate the main female role written for her voice on stage.
In the first phase of composition, the second act of the opera was composed with the love duet between Samson and Dalila, which Saint-Saëns presented at a soirée in 1868 . The vocal cast of the evening were the composer Augusta Holmès as Dalila, the painter Henri Regnault as Samson and Romain Bussine as high priest of the Dagon; however, the composition met with rejection. He then stopped working on the opera for the time being. However, during a visit to Weimar , Franz Liszt was able to persuade him to complete the composition and offered him the prospect of premiering the work in Weimar. However, this plan was initially shattered by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, so that Saint-Saëns put the composition aside again. It was only during a stay in Algiers in 1874 that he was inspired by oriental music and began to work again. On August 20, 1874, he performed the complete second act in Croissy , accompanying the singers on the piano. Above all, the director of the Paris Opera was negative, not least because it was a biblical subject. The concert performance of the first act on March 26, 1875 was at best a mixed success, with the oratorio-like choirs of the Hebrews and again the biblical character itself causing offense. Nevertheless, Saint-Saëns did not give up and completed the work in January 1876. Since the opera had met with rejection in France, he actually had it premiered in Weimar in a German translation by Richard Pohl under the conductor Eduard Lassen. It sang Auguste Muller (Dalila), Franz Ferenczy (Samson), Hans Feodor of clemency (high priest), Dengler (Abimelech), Adolf Hennig (Old Hebrew), Winiker (messenger), Karl Knopp (first Philistines) and Felix Schmidt ( second Philistine).
The opera became a great success in Germany, while it was not until March 3, 1890, before a French stage, the Théâtre des Arts in Rouen , brought out Samson et Dalila . On October 31 of that year it was premiered in Paris at the Théâtre Lyrique de l'Eden, before the Théâtre National de l'Opéra followed suit with an expanded second version on November 23, 1892 , which meant the establishment of the work in France as well. The conductor of this Paris performance was Édouard Colonne , the direction was by Raoul Lapissida, the choreography by Joseph Hansen and the stage by Eugène-Louis Carpezat, Amable Petit and Eugène-Benoît Gardy. Blanche Deschamps-Jéhin (Dalila), Edmond Vergnet (Samson), Jean-Louis Lassalle (high priest), René Fournets (Abimélech), Marius Chambon (old Hebrew), Gallois (messenger), Pierre-Marie Laurent (first Philistine) sang and Charles Douaillier (second Philistine). After 1914 the opera was rarely played in Germany.
literature
- Peter Czerny : Opera book . 17th edition. Henschel, Berlin 1982.
- Hugh Macdonald and Sabina Teller Ratner: Analysis of the staging in the supplement to the complete recording under Colin Davis (conductor), Philips, 1990 (two CDs).
- Peter Larsen, article in the program of the Trier Antikenfestspiele 2007.
Web links
- Samson et Dalila : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Work information and libretto (French) as full text on operalib.eu
- Samson et Dalila (Camille Saint-Saëns) in the Corago information system of the University of Bologna
- Plot and libretto from fr on Opera-Guide landing page due to URL change currently unavailable
- Discography on Samson et Dalila at Operadis
- Detailed table of contents on Klassika.info
Individual evidence
- ^ Theo Hirsbrunner : Samson et Dalila. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Music Theater . Volume 5: Works. Piccinni - Spontini. Piper, Munich and Zurich 1994, ISBN 3-492-02415-7 , p. 510.
- ↑ Michel Beretti: Samson et Dalila, oratorio, drame biblique ou opéra? In: Camille Saint-Saëns: Samson and Dalila. Booklet for the complete recording of the opera from the Opéra Bastille, Paris from 1–2. July 1991, EMI France, 1992, EAN 077775447026, p. 28.
- ↑ December 2, 1877: "Samson and Delilah". In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
- ↑ November 23, 1892: "Samson et Dalila". In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..