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ACT 1
Gaza city square with the temple of Dagon to the left,
at night While the rest of the Hebrews are bewailing
their fate, Samson alone has faith in God's promise
of liberty. This first scene gives the clearest signs
of the work's origins as an oratorio, with a fine sombre
opening for the chorus leading to a fugue on the words
'Nous avons vu nos cités renversées'. Samson steps forward
and sings rousingly against a constant choral prayer.
The entry of Abimelech, the Philistine satrap, is marked
by gross instrumentation (two ophicleides) which Bernard
Shaw deplored as too Meyerbeerian, 'with his brusque
measures and his grim orchestral clinkings and whistlings'.
Abimelech mocks the Hebrews' God, proclaiming the superiority
of Dagon, and the Hebrews cower in terror. But Samson's
fervour, supported by the sound of the harp, arouses
them to defy Abimelech, whereupon the latter attacks
Samson with his sword. Samson seizes the sword and strikes
him dead. The Hebrews scatter and the High Priest appears,
cursing the Hebrews and their leader. When a messenger
reports that the Hebrews are ravaging the harvest, the
High Priest utters a curse that hints at his plan to
use Delilah to overcome Samson's strength: 'Qu'enfin
une compagne infâme trahisse son amour!'.
Dawn breaks. The Hebrews return offering a prayer to
the Almighty, now in a humble unison, suggesting plainchant.
Down the temple steps comes Delilah, supported by her
women, who sing of the delights of spring in the delicate
style of Gounod. She declares that Samson has conquered
her heart and invites him to join her in her retreat
in the valley of Sorek. Samson prays for protection
from her charms, and an old Hebrew warns him of danger,
forming an effective trio. The priestesses dance a voluptuous
dance, with a tambourine to give exotic colour and some
dark premonition at the end. Delilah sings her charming
song 'Printemps qui commence' and the old Hebrew repeats
his warning. Samson wrestles with his desire to meet
Delilah's glance, a desire to which she knows he will
succusnb.
ACT 2
The Valley of Sorek The introduction paints a musical
picture of the luxuriant foliage that decks Delilah's
retreat. She sits on a rock outside the entrance, rejoicing
in her power over Samson and certain that he will fall
for her malevolent enticement ('Amour! viens aider ma
faiblesse!'). Distant lightning is seen. The High Priest
arrives, to the accompaniment of his energetic motif
in the bass. He reports that Samson and the Hebrews
have defeated the Philistines. He offers her gold for
Samson's capture, but she refuses it, being inspired
purely by hatred and by loyalty to her gods. They sing
an energetic duet of hatred, propelled by a strong symphonic
accompaniment, and she promises to unlock the secret
of Samson's strength.
Left alone, Delilah wonders if she can succeed, against
a highly imaginative orchestral background. Samson soon
appears. Distant lightning is still seen. He has come
to say his last farewell, knowing that duty calls him
to lead the Hebrews to victory. Inevitably he is drawn
by Delilah's protestations of love to acknowledge that
he loves her too. His admission 'Je t'aime!' introduces
her main aria 'Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix', the best-known
piece in the opera. At the end of the second verse Samson
joins in to make it a duet. There follows a scene of
tremendous power in which Delilah pretends to doubt
his love and begs him to reveal the secret of his strength,
but he refuses. The thunder seems to Samson to be God's
wrath. She scorns him and runs into her dwelling. Samson
hesitates, but soon follows her. At that moment some
Philistine soldiers emerge from hiding. Delilah gives
them the signal, and Samson cries out that he has been
betrayed.
ACT 3.i
A prison in Gaza Samson, blinded and bound, his hair
shorn, turns a mill-wheel, graphically portrayed by
the orchestra. Echoes of the Hebrews' lament from Act
1 are heard. Overcome with remorse, Samson offers his
life in sacrifice, while the Hebrews are heard in the
distance bewailing his fall.
ACT 3.ii
Inside the Temple of Dagon Music covers the scene-change
to the temple, where the Philistines are preparing a
sacrifice to celebrate their triumph. At first they
sing in the gentle tones of their song to spring from
Act 1, but when the Bacchanale begins a more savage
atmosphere develops. This well-known ballet sequence
is a fine specimen of the kind of divertissement favoured
by Meyerbeer and most French opera composers, with prominent
augmented 2nds to suggest a Near-Eastern locale and
much use of percussion to evoke the barbarism of the
Philistines; there is a voluptuous episode also. After
the dance Samson is led in, guided by a boy, to be mocked
by the High Priest and the crowd, and also, to a trivialized
variant of her love song, by Delilah, who reveals that
she had sold his secret in advance and had pretended
to love him out of hatred and a desire for vengeance.
Samson is remorseful. Her treachery is now plain. The
crowd's mockery is enhanced by more and more trivial
music, with a tinkling triangle and bells, the Philistines'
vacuous frivolity laid bare. Samson prays to recover
his strength. The Philistines pour sacrificial libations
in honour of Dagon. The High Priest tells the boy to
lead Samson to the middle of the temple where all can
see him; Samson whispers to the boy to guide him to
the two marble pillars that support the building. As
the festivities reach their climax Samson calls on God
for vengeance, and with a supreme effort 'bows himself
with all his might', bringing down the pillars and the
whole temple upon the assembled Philistines and upon
himself. The score allows little more than five seconds
between Samson's mighty exertion and the descent of
the curtain.
The libretto of Samson et Dalila, based on Chapter 16
of the Book of Judges, omits Samson's mighty deeds such
as the slaughter of a lion and the slaying of one thousand
Philistines with the jawbone of an ass which earned
his fame and his leadership of the Hebrews. It concentrates
instead on the story of Delilah, presenting Samson as
an inspiring leader whose heart can be touched by love
of a woman and Delilah as a scheming, merciless avenger.
The death of Abimelech in Act 1 is an invention. Although
the chorus are prominent at the beginning the Hebrews
are not seen on stage again, and Saint-Saëns was right
not to make an oratorio of this material.
His technique is unmistakably operatic, both in the
skilful deployment of a large orchestra and in the application
of motifs. At the time of Samson et Dalila Saint-Saëns
still admired Wagner enormously, and the influence of
Der fliegende Holländer and Lohengrin can be heard in
the strong closing scene of Act 2. Echoes of Berlioz's
L'enfance du Christ and Les Troyens are also to be heard,
and the work treads paths marked out by Meyerbeer and
Gounod too. The French were wrong to believe that Saint-Saëns
was an 'algébriste', since this score is far from the
calculated contrivance that this implies. It is certainly
his most imaginative opera score, and it reveals an
instinct for theatrical emotion that any opera composer
would be proud of. It allows us to savour some of the
brilliance and intellectual vigour that even his enemies
admired.
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