Programs · Episode

SAINT-SAENS: Samson and Dalila

Program: At the Opera
Aired: Saturday, January 27, 2024 @ 6:00 pm
Hosted by Lisa Simeone

Try to imagine a musician with a successful career lasting more than 70 years! For example, from 1950, when The Weavers topped the charts with their folk-style hit “Goodnight Irene,” until 2021 or so, when K-Pop and the boy band BTS were all the rage. Surely, no single musician could stay popular for that long, right? Well, Camille Saint-Saens did – in a career that started when Brahms was a schoolboy and lasted until well after Stravinsky caused a near-riot with “The Rite of Spring.” Along the way, Saint-Saens created some of his most beautiful music for this colorful, Biblical blockbuster of an opera. At the Opera explores Samson and Dalila in two recordings, starring José Carreras, Agnes Baltsa, José Cura and Olga Borodina in the title roles.

MORE ABOUT THE OPERA:

Camille Saint-Saens had one of the most extraordinary careers in the history of music, a career that spanned some truly amazing advances. When he was born, in 1835, the horse and buggy were the preferred means of transport, and the modern piano was still considered a new instrument.

By the time he died, in 1921, Saint-Saens had seen the invention of the automobile, the airplane and the phonograph — and he even left us a few recordings. Saint-Saens was a successful musician from his teens, in about 1850, until his death in 1921. For the sake of comparison, let’s see what such a career would have looked like a century later. In 1950, the tune that spent the most time atop the charts was the homespun, folk-like charmer, “Goodnight Irene,” by The Weavers. Seventy-one years later, in 2021, the tune with the most weeks at No. 1 was “Butter,” by the K-Pop boy band BTS.

It’s hard to imagine a single musical artist staying relevant long enough to stick around all the way from The Weavers to BTS. But Saint-Saens did just that – he just did it a century earlier. He got started when Brahms was still a schoolboy, and Mendelssohn had only recently written “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” And when he died, still active in 1921, Schoenberg was taking music into the 12-tone era.  
     

Composing came easily to Saint-Saens. He once said, "I write music like
an apple tree produces apples." But things weren’t so easy for him when it came
to Samson and Dalila. He began the score in1868, and it was nearly a decade
before its first performance.

On At the Opera, host Lisa Simeone takes us through Samson and Dalila with extended highlights of two recordings, both led by Colin Davis. In one, mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina is Dalila, with tenor José Cura as Samson. In the other, Agnes Baltsa and José Carreras sing the title roles.

FEATURED RECORDINGS:

Colin Davis, conductor
London Symphony Orchestra and chorus
CAST:  José Cura (Samson); Olga Borodina (Dalila); Jean-Philippe Lafont (High
Priest); Egils Silins (Abimelech)
(ERATO 3984-24756)

Colin Davis, conductor
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
CAST:  José Carreras (Samson); Agnes Baltsa (Dalila); Jonathan Summers
(High Priest); Simon Estes (Abimelech)
(PHILIPS 475 8706)

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