The life of Charles Camille Saint-Saëns, born in Paris in 1835, illustrates all too well the difference between extraordinary potential and extraordinary achievement. As a child, he exhibited truly amazing musical aptitude – a child prodigy very nearly on a par with Mozart. At the age of six, Camille was given a score of Mozart's Don Giovanni and poured through it with evident delight. He had himself already begun to compose both piano pieces and songs. At age seven, he began studying piano with one instructor and harmony with another. He gave his first public performance when he was ten and ultimately developed into a world-class virtuoso on both the piano and organ. When he was seventeen, he was appointed organist at Église Sainte-Merry, a position he held for seven years before assuming a similar position for the famous Church of the Madeleine. He taught for five years, from 1861-6, at the École Niedermeyer, where his pupils included Fauré and Messager.

Although Saint-Saëns left behind, when his life was over, some highly regarded works (e.g., several excellent symphonic poems, three superb piano concerti, his Third Symphony, the Variations on a Theme by Beethoven, the present opera), there remains the sense that he should have accomplished more. Somewhere between the exceptional promise and the final accounting, Saint-Saëns leaves us with something of a disconnect. Understanding the factors that limited the quality of his ultimate output provides an important lesson in life. In my assessment, there were three main factors.

First, Saint-Saëns had a somewhat rigid personality that caused him to take a dogmatic approach to music. Though broadly cultured and keen of intellect, Saint-Saëns too often judged music by its "correctness." He viewed music as a rather formulistic combination of pleasing sounds. Secondly, Saint-Saëns composed mainly from his intellect, disdaining emotionality in music. He tended to rely on a mechanical fluency rather than searching for emotional inspiration. Too often, his music comes across as facile and superficial.

Thirdly, he was extremely conservative in relation to new directions in music, believing that any effort at originality could be fatal to the art. Saint-Saëns once stated, "The artist who does not feel completely satisfied by elegant lines, by harmonious colours, and by a beautiful succession of chords does not understand the art of music." Although, in later life, Saint-Saëns was a tireless supporter of young composers (co-founding, for example, the Société Nationale de Musique for that purpose), he viewed the tendencies of the "new" music of the day with disapprobation.

If there's an overall lesson to be gleaned from the example of Camille Saint-Saëns, it's that one must continue to grow in skills and absorb new ideas throughout one's life and not rest too readily on early successes, if one wants to achieve one's utmost potential.

Place in the Repertoire: Samson and Dalila was the second of Saint-Saëns's dozen operas and the third to be performed, yet it is the only one that continues to hold the stage, today, at least outside of France. Saint-Saëns began composing the music for Samson and Dalila in 1867. Although Saint-Saëns was already well-established as a composer at the time, his successes to date had been in piano and organ music, chamber music, and orchestral music. The doors of Paris's great theatres still remained close to him. He had finished his first opera, Le timber d'argent in 1865, but two years later still had no prospects for having it produced.

Saint-Saëns initially thought Samson and Dalila might be an oratorio. He later explained how the shift came about from oratorio to opera. "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 a 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!'" Saint-Saëns began his work with the second act – which is this opera's centerpiece. After sketching it out in considerable detail, he arranged for a gathering at his home in 1870, just before the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. Saint-Saëns played the instrumental score on the piano while three singers, brought in for the occasion, sang the principal roles from part books. According to Saint-Saëns, his select audience of friends "could make nothing of it all."

By 1877, Saint-Saëns had completed the opera, but despite the successful production of Le timbre d'argent on February 23rd of that year at the Théâtre Lyrique, he could not stir up any interest in Paris for his biblical opera. The subject matter was judged by the theatre managers to be too serious and stuffy. Saint-Saëns, however, had a good friend and champion in Franz Liszt, who arranged to have it produced at Weimar on December 2nd, 1877, where it was a resounding success with the audience and critics alike. A second German production took place in Hamburg in 1882, but this very French opera did not receive its first production in France, at the Paris Opéra, until November 23rd 1892, fifteen years after its completion. Ironically, Samson and Dalila is now one of the staples of that opera house's repertoire.

So, the Parisian impresarios were overly slow to embrace Saint-Saëns's only operatic masterpiece; then, they compounded their error, after its success, by eagerly staging every new opera that Saint-Saëns composed, none of which were able to hang on in the standard repertoire. Between 1883 and 1906, four new operas by Saint-Saëns were staged at the Opéra, two at the Opéra-Comique, two at Monte Carlo, and one at Lyons, but none with conspicuous success.

Meanwhile, Samson and Dalila made its way to Monte Carlo and Florence, both in 1892. The first performance at Covent Garden was in 1893 and at La Scala in 1895. The first American performance took place in New Orleans in 1893. The first production at the Metropolitan Opera occurred on February 2nd, 1895. Samson and Dalila gradually became a star vehicle for both mezzo-sopranos (e.g., Marilyn Horne, Elena Obraztsova) and tenors (e.g., Enrico Caruso, Richard Tucker).

Subject Matter in Brief: The libretto was written by Ferdinand Lemaire based on a Biblical tale in the Old Testament's Book of Judges, chapter 16. The setting is Gaza, circa 1150 BC. (Aside: Fortunately for us all, the troubles in Gaza detailed in this story are ancient history; Gaza, nowadays, is a wonderfully peaceful place.)

Act 1 takes place in a square in Gaza, where a group of Hebrews are praying for deliverance from their bondage to the Philistines (a people originally from Crete, now genetically absorbed into the Palestinian and Syrians populations). The soft opening chorus ends in a fugue. Samson (Jon Vickers) enters and attempts to rally the spirits of his people. The Philistinian governor, Abimelech (John Tomlinson), shows up and taunts the Hebrews, attributing their subjugation to abandonment by their god. His god, Dagon, he claims, is far superior. (Sound familiar?) Samson tries to incite the timid Hebrews to resist. Abimelech draws his sword, but the mighty Samson easily disarms him and kills Abimelech with his own sword. The Hebrews, fearing reprisals for Samson's rash action, quickly flee.

The High Priest of Dagon (Jonathan Summers) enters and denounces Samson and the Hebrews, and all the more so when a messenger arrives with news that the Hebrews have destroyed the harvest. The High Priest decides to enlist the Philistine beauty, Dalila (Shirley Verrett), to counter Samson's strength.

At daybreak, the Hebrews are in prayer. Dalila emerges along with a bevy of priestesses of Dagon, singing to the wonders of spring. Dalila dances seductively and soon wins Samson's interest. As she prepares to depart, she bids him to come visit her at her home in the Valley of Sorek. An elderly Hebrew philosopher tries to warn Samson of the danger in surrendering to Dalila's charms and Samson prays to his god to protect him. To overcome his resistance, Dalila and the priestesses engage in a seductive dance to the accompaniment of a tambourine. As Act 1 is winding up, Dalila again sings to the glories of spring, while the ancient Hebrew repeats his cautionary warning.

Act 2 takes place in Dalila's dwelling in the Valley of Sorek. Dalila is hopeful that she's ensnared Samson and that he'll come to her and abandon his leadership of the Hebrews. She opines that his strength will be useless in the face of love's onslaught. The High Priest arrives with news that the Hebrews have defeated the Philistines. He wants Dalila's help in compromising Samson and offers her gold, but Dalila refuses it. She is already determined to subdue Samson, motivated by her own hatred for him and devotion to her own god and people. To do so, she'll need to discover the secret of Samson's prodigious strength.

Samson shows up, intending only to offer Dalila a quick farewell before returning to his people and leadership role. Dalila turns on the charm, offering herself to Samson and begging him to respond to her caresses. Samson melts and declares his love for Dalila. Dalila then feigns doubt about his sincerity and demands that he confide to her the source of his strength, as evidence of his devotion to her. Samson is initially dissuaded from doing so by a roll of thunder, which Samson interprets as a warning from his god. Dalila escalates the battle by weeping, a bit, and then running off into her house. Samson soon follows. The Philistine soldiers approach and, on a signal from Dalila that she's learned the secret of his strength (his long hair) and negated it, rush the bedchamber, where they capture and blind Samson.

Act 3 has two scenes. In Scene 1, Samson, shackled and head shorn, is chained to a mill-wheel in a dungeon in Gaza. He laments his misjudgments and prays for the Hebrews, who will suffer for his mistakes. In the distance, the Hebrews bemoan the troubled times that now beset them. The curtain falls and a musical interlude allows for a scene change.

Scene 2, the culminating scene, is set in the Temple of Dagon, where the Philistines are celebrating victory over the Hebrews. The celebrants once again sing a song of praise, reprising the hymn to spring in Act 1. In a dance segment, the Philistines engage in a spirited pagan celebration, complete with a whirling dervish, the sacrifice of a goat, the deflowering of a virgin, and wild dancing to the strains of an exotic bacchanale. The blind Samson is led in by a boy and is mocked and taunted by the High Priest and then by Dalila, who relishes the ease with which she seduced the former strongman. The High Priest demands that Samson drink a toast to Dagon, but Samson instructs his young guide to lead him to the temple's two marble pillars. He then prays to his god to restore his strength. Samson bursts his chains and causes the pillars to come crashing down, crushing himself and all of his tormentors.

Obviously, the moral of the story, being biblical in origin, is that the Judeo-Christian god, Jehovah, is the one true god and all the others, Dagon in particular in this instance, are just a bunch of bums. The opera Attila, which I reviewed recently, made essentially the same point, except that the bum in that instance was Odin. I wish I could say that these kinds of messages are harmless (they are for the subset of people able to view such arguments as anachronistic ignorance), but, in reality, we continue to live in a world in which a significant fraction of warfare consists of a battle over whose ideas in relation to god are the best. These sorts of art works, with their messages supporting bigotry and xenophobia, contribute directly to the mentality underlying such religious warfare. Whether it’s the Jewish aspect of the problem, the Christian part, or the Muslim piece, it's all part of the same defective thinking that's been evident, now, for several millennia.

Quality as a Work of Art: Despite being its composer's only operatic success, Samson and Dalila is indeed a very worthy opera. The orchestration is skillful and lush. The writing for chorus is exquisite, suggestivg, even, that this work retained just a smidgen of the oratorio quality that Saint-Saëns originally intended for it. The music of the Philistines in the final scene is exotically colored. The lyricism in the best arias (e.g., Printemps qui commence, Mon coeur s'ourvre à ta voix, and Vois ma misère) is subtle yet exquisite. The first two of those arias are among the most popular recital pieces for mezzo-sopranos. As for characterization, Saint-Saëns makes some effective use of both leading motifs and reprisal motifs, to bind together the scenic episodes. The libretto, though not exceptional, is dramatic enough to sustain interest as listeners drink in the composer's gorgeous music.

Musical Performances: Despite Samson getting first billing in the title of this opera, it is Dalila who most carries the load. Saint-Saëns originally intended the role of Dalila for the magnificent Pauline Viardot (1821-1910), but the long disinterest in Paris in mounting the opera prevented her from ever singing the part. By the time this opera reached the stage in Paris, Viardot was too old for the role. She did, however, organize a private performance of Act 2 by itself in her home in 1875, with Saint-Saëns at the piano.

In the present recording, the part of Dalila is sung by the estimable Shirley Verrett. American mezzo-soprano Verrett was born in 1931 to an African-American family in New Orleans. She made her operatic debut in 1957 in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia. She debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1968. Her La Scala debut the following year was in the role that she sings on the present recording. Her stage career lasted until the early nineties, and since then she has served on the faculty at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, as a voice instructor. In 2003 Verrett published a book entitled I Never Walked Alone in which she discusses, among other topics, the instances of a racism she encountered as a black person in the mainly white world of classical music. Verrett was attractive enough for the role of Dalila, though less than stunning. Her acting was great, with many subtle touches, while her singing was wonderful. She had the opera's two most famous numbers to perform and delivered them with exquisite beauty.

Retired Canadian tenor Jonathan (Jon) Stewart Vickers was born in 1926, at Prince Albert in Saskatchewan. He studied opera on a scholarship at Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music, before joining London's Royal Opera House in 1957. In 1960, he joined the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He had an extensive repertoire, spanning the German, Italian, and French operatic literatures. His voice was especially well suited for the dramatic tenor roles of Wagner and Verdi, which he sang with intensity and power. He sang in most of the major opera houses throughout the world. He had a reputation for exceptional depth of characterization. Vickers was a big chunk of change, obviously necessary for the role of Samson. The voice was every bit as big as the man. I was most impressed with him in Act 3, Scene 1, which he has all to himself, except for some contribution from an off-stage chorus.

Jonathan Summers sang the third most important role in this opera, the High Priest of Dagon. Summers is an Australian baritone who was born in Melbourne in 1946. He was best known for the title role in Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes, which won a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording in 1980. His repertoire extended from Mozart to the moderns. He appeared in most of the world's major opera venues, and worked with most of the famous sopranos, tenors, and conductors at one time or another. English bass John Tomlinson played the role of Abimelech. He doesn't last long in this opera. He's killed in the first act, but Tomlinson sang well 'til he died. Tomlinson was born in 1946. Bass Gwynne Howell played the small role of the Ancient Hebrew. The great Colin Davis conducted the Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House and handled the lush score beautifully.

The casting of the principals was excellent across the board. The extras in the final scene were also outstanding but I thought the acting by the Hebrew chorus in the first act was very weak.

Staging: Although listed on the DVD as "Producer," Elijah Moshinsky was apparently also the stage director for this production. He and designer Sidney Nolan did a bang-up job with the scenery, costumes, and mise-en-scene. Even the curtains were decorated with some kind of primitive, middle-eastern motif. The staging for the early scenes was good, but the staging of the final scene was truly outstanding. The dance sequence during the pagan celebration was a joy to behold, rich in pageantry, symbolism, movement, and variety. John Vernon, who directed the video production, provided a very nice variety of camera angles and depths.

Technical Aspects: This Kultur DVD recording of a Royal Opera House production dating from 1981 is coded for region 1 (U.S. and Canada). The video format is full-screen (4:3 aspect ratio). The audio is Dolby 2.0. The performance language is French. Optional subtitles are provided in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish. The opera's running time is 134 minutes. There are no DVD extras and the one page insert lists only chapter titles, by the first few words of the aria. There is a cast listing on the back cover of the case. There is no plot synopsis or background information.

Competitor Versions: The main competitor version for this opera was filmed in San Francisco, shortly before the present production in London. Verrett plays Dalila in that version as well, opposite Plácido Domingo. Domingo is almost as effective as Vickers in this role, but Verrett performs a shade better in the London production and Summers is the best High Priest on any of the recordings of this opera. Both the London version and the San Francisco version have well-staged pagan rituals in the final scene. The San Francisco version does a better job with the final destruction of the temple. There also is or was a version of this opera from the Met, but it's third-rate in this instance.

Bottom-Line: This work is the one operatic masterpiece of Camille Saint-Saëns. It's not a top-20 opera but belongs in the top-50 in the repertoire. The music is silky beautiful and here you have legendary performances by Vickers and Verrett and excellent work from Colin Davis, the orchestra, and the chorus. The wild pagan celebration is both visually and musically stunning. There's nothing to complain about for this recording except the story's message and, perhaps, the final crumbling of the temple looking distinctly non-lethal.



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You can easily access my other opera reviews using the following lists:

Top-Twelve Film Versions of Operas
Metalluk's Twenty Best Pre-Romantic (Baroque & Classicism) Operas, on DVD
Metalluk's Twenty-five Best Italian Romantic Period Operas, on DVD
Metalluk's Twenty Best Non-Italian Romantic Period Operas, on DVD
Metalluk's Thirty Best Operas of the 20th-Century, on DVD
Metalluk's Best Opera from Each Decade of the 20th-Century, on DVD

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older