[3/11/12] Introducing Saint-Saëns' Samson, the second-angriest man in opera (continued)

TWO NOTES BEFORE WE LISTEN TO
SAMSON'S DRAMATIC EXHORTATION

First, don't be intimidated if you can't or don't want to follow the printed music. I did think, though, that some listeners might enjoy being able to see how the music they're hearing takes shape. Second, in the text block below I've gone to the trouble of including the French original as well as an English translation (made possible in our format because the lines are so short) because, as I said Friday, the next itself seems to me so beautiful and plays such a large role in the aural and dramatic effect -- that is, assuming we have a tenor who can actually sing French, which was why I introduced Georges Thill's recording of the later excerpt, "L'as-tu donc oublié." Our results here are, shall we say, mixed.

SAINT-SAËNS: Samson et Dalila: Act I,
Samson, "Arrêtez, ô mes frères!"

José Luccioni (t), Samson; Orchestra of the Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris, Louis Fourestier, cond. EMI, recorded September 1946

Mario del Monaco (t), Samson; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fausto Cleva, cond. RCA, recorded 1958

Plácido Domingo (t), Samson; Opéra-Bastille Orchestra, Myung-Whun Chung, cond. EMI, recorded July 1-11, 1991

José Cura (t); London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis, cond. Erato, recorded July 21-27, 1998

Jon Vickers (t), Samson; Orchestra of the Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris, Georges Prêtre, cond. EMI, recorded Sept. 25-Oct. 10, 1962


SAMSON STANDS IN AN OPERATIC TRADITION
OF HEROIC-SIZE-TENOR CROWD CONTROLLERS

Here's another of those funny coincidences. Remember Ponchielli's La Gioconda? In Friday's preview we heard the Prelude, with its brooding opening, alongside the brooding opening of Saint-Saëns' Samson. It's probably just a coincidence that Samson debuted in 1877, the year after Gioconda, in which in Act I another tenor -- also ideally of the heroic-caliber voice type -- did his version of one-man crowd control.

PONCHIELLI: La Gioconda: Act I, Enzo, "Assassini!"

The crowed, whipped into murderous rage against a helpless old blind woman, is shouting variants of "Death to the witch," until the woman's daughter, known as La Gioconda, returns with her boyfriend.

ENZO: Murderers! Spare that venerable head

or I shall draw my sword!

A brave battle you wage

against infirmity deprived of light!

Shame! A race of cowards has been born

to the winged lion of St. Mark.
CROWD: No, God wills what the people want.
No, the witch deserves no mercy.

The choral hubbub resumes and continues until ALVISE BADOERO, one of the heads of the state Inquisition, enters at the rear with his wife, LAURA, and the inquisitor brings an abrupt halt to the furor..

LAURA: Mercy!
ALVISE: Rebellion!

Franco Corelli (t), Enzo Grimaldo; Eileen Farrell (s), La Gioconda; Nell Rankin (ms), Laura Badoero; Giorgio Tozzi (bs), Alvise Badoero; Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Fausto Cleva, cond. Live performance, Mar. 31, 1962

And remember that the librettist of La Gioconda, "Tobia Gorra," would be, nearly two decades later, the man, himself a composer, who lured Giuseppe Verdi out of retirement to write first Otello, then Falstaff, with libretti he wrote under his un-anagrammed name, Arrigo Boito. In Act I of Otello, Otello gets to crowd-stop twice -- first when he emerges on dry land after nearly being shipwrecked during the violent storm that opens the opera, then when Jago engineers a riot to discredit his rival, Cassio and the enraged Otello enters ordering one and all to put down their swords.

VERDI: Otello: Act I:
Otello, "Esultate!"

Otello, "Abasso le spade!"

Mario del Monaco (t), Otello; Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Georg Solti, cond. Live performance, June 30, 1962


PART 2 BEGINS WITH THIS PREVIEW: "HOW WE GET
TO SAMSON'S HEROIC FIRST UTTERANCE"


RETURN TO THE BEGINNING OF THE POST

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