Camille Saint-Saëns
Samson et Dalila
Live in HD
Sacred, scandalous, and irresistibly alluring, Saint-Saëns’s spectacular take on the biblical hero of legendary strength and the seductive Philistine whose beauty overpowers him returns in the Met’s larger-than-life production. Featuring a massive orchestra and chorus and some of opera’s most spellbinding tunes, this masterpiece of French grand opera is a feast for the eyes and ears. Giacomo Sagripanti conducts an electrifying cast led by the formidable star pairing of mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina and tenor Clay Hilley, transmitted live to cinemas worldwide. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe.
English StreamText captioning is available for the Met’s transmission of Samson et Dalila here. A transcript of the transmission will also be available to view after the live performance.
Buy tickets for Samson et Dalila live in the opera house here.
Production a gift of the Gramma Fisher Foundation, Marshalltown, Iowa; and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang, PhD. and Oscar Tang
Additional funding from The Walter and Leonore Annenberg Endowment Fund and William R. Miller
Revival a gift of C. Graham Berwind, III
Sung In
French
Estimated Run Time
3 hour 55 min
World premiere: Grand Ducal Theater, Weimar, 1877. The source of this popular opera is a single chapter in the biblical Book of Judges, and the brevity of the tale did nothing to prevent it from becoming one of the world’s great stories of love (or at least passion)—as well as the archetypal depiction of a man betrayed by an immoral woman. Saint-Saëns’s opera, along with other artistic renderings across multiple genres, has had an important role in the popularization of this tale. Despite tepid success early on, Samson et Dalila eventually conquered the operatic world and has proven itself a magnificent evening of theater.
Creators
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) was a leading figure of the French musical world throughout his life, successful as an organist, pianist, conductor, and prominent music commentator in addition to his work as a composer. Ferdinand Lemaire (1832–79), a poet who married a cousin of Saint-Saëns’s and who made his most lasting impression with this work, contributed the libretto.
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composer
Camille Saint-Saëns
Production
Darko Tresnjak
SET DESIGNER
Alexander Dodge
COSTUME DESIGNER
Linda Cho
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Donald Holder
CHOREOGRAPHER
Austin McCormick
C. Graham Berwind, III Chorus Director
Tilman Michael
Setting
The opera, like the biblical tale, takes place in the city of Gaza, a capital of ancient Philistia, and in the Valley of Sorek, in the foothill country toward Jerusalem. The time is around 1150 B.C.E.
Music
The score of this opera teems with color and dramatic aptitude and is a worthy compendium of Saint-Saëns’s diversified genius. Portions of the opera, including Dalila’s seduction aria “Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix” and the extraordinary ballet sequence in the final scene—the Bacchanale—are known well beyond the opera house. Throughout the work, the score brilliantly animates all the powerful and diverse colors in the iconic story, from the lurid to the exotic, the crass, the sensual, and even the sublimely spiritual.
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