Saint-Saëns: Samson and Dalila

Tonality

Without a unique tone. Like every opera, it goes through a lot of tonalities. The aria «Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix» is in major.

From the atril

Saint- Saint- Saint- thought first Samson and Dalila as an oratory, on the biblical account of the Hebrew hero and the Philistine woman who discovers the secret of her strength. With a libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire, in Paris no one wanted to start an opera with a biblical theme, and it was Franz Liszt who took it to Weimar, where it premiered in German on December 2, 1877. The Paris Opera did not present it until 1892.

It combines solemn oratory air chorus with scenes of great sensuality and a very colorful oriental of the taste of the time. The role of Dalila, for mezzosoprano, is one of the great of its rope, with the aria «Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix» as a culminating moment. The bacanal of the last act, before Samson takes down the temple, is one of the brightest orchestral pages of Saint- Saëns.

What to hear

• The aria of Dalila «Printemps qui commence»In the first act.
• «Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix», the great duo of seduction of the second act.
• The third act bacanal.