Editing Samson and Delilah (opera) (section)

==Performance history==

===Premiere in Weimar===
[[File:Weimar Theater.jpg|thumb|The Grand Ducal Theater in Weimar (now the [[Staatskapelle Weimar]]) was the site of the premiere of the complete ''Samson et Dalila'' on 2 December 1877.]]

Although Liszt was no longer the musical director in Weimar, he still exerted a powerful influence at the Weimar court. [[Eduard Lassen]], the director who followed Liszt at Weimar, owed much of his success to his celebrated predecessor, and Liszt used his influence to arrange the premiere of ''Samson et Dalila'' with Lassen on the podium during the 1877/1878 season. The libretto was duly translated into German for the production and the opera's first performance was given on 2 December 1877 at the Grossherzogliches Theatre (Grand Ducal Theater). Viardot was too old to sing Delilah so the role was entrusted to [[Auguste von Müller]], a resident performer at the Weimar opera house. Although a resounding success with the Weimar critics and audience, the opera was not immediately revived in other opera houses.<ref name=Grove />

===Beginning of international popularity in the 1890s===
After the numerous setbacks it suffered in its early years, ''Samson et Dalila'' finally began to attract the attention of the world's great opera houses during the 1890s. Although the next new production of ''Samson et Dalila'' was in Germany at the [[Hamburg State Opera]] in 1882, afterwards the opera was not seen again until it was performed for the first time in France at the Théâtre des Arts in [[Rouen]] on 3 March 1890 with Carlotta Bossi as Dalila and [[Jean-Alexandre Talazac]] as Samson. The opera received its Paris premiere at the [[Éden-Théâtre]] on 31 October 1890 with [[Rosine Bloch]] as Dalila and Talazac singing Samson once again, this time with a much warmer reception by Paris audiences. Over the next two years, performances were given in [[Bordeaux]], [[Geneva]], [[Toulouse]], [[Nantes]], [[Dijon]], and [[Montpellier]]. The [[Paris Opera|Paris Opéra]] finally staged the opera on 23&nbsp;November 1892 in a performance under the supervision of Saint-Saëns conducted by [[Édouard Colonne]] with [[Blanche Deschamps-Jéhin]] as Dalila and [[Edmond Vergnet]] as Samson. Directed by Lapissida, the staging had costumes by Charles Bianchini and sets by Amable and Eugène Gardy (acts 1 and 2), and [[Eugène Louis Carpezat|Eugène Carpezat]] (act 3). The performance was lauded by critics and spectators alike.<ref name=Amadeus>{{Almanacco|match=Samson et Dalila}}</ref>

[[File:Samson hos filistrene.jpg|thumb|upright|left|''Samson at the Treadmill'' ([[Carl Bloch]], 1834–1890)]]

''Samson et Dalila'' also earned a great deal of popularity outside France during the 1890s. The opera debuted successfully in [[Monaco]] at the [[Opéra de Monte-Carlo]] on 15 March 1892. This was followed by the opera's United States premiere at [[Carnegie Hall]] in a concert version on 24 March 1892 by the [[Oratorio Society of New York]], conducted by [[Walter Damrosch]]. The first staged performance of the opera in the U.S. was held at the [[French Opera House]], [[New Orleans]] on 4 January 1893. The first of many productions at the [[Metropolitan Opera]] in New York City was held on 2 February 1895, with [[Eugenia Mantelli]] as Dalila, [[Francesco Tamagno]] as Samson, and [[Pol Plançon]] portraying both Abimélech and the Old Hebrew. There is some evidence that the sets for the Met's production had been taken from some of their other operas, and at the second performance that season the work was given in concert, with the ballet sequences omitted; in this form the work traveled to [[Boston]], where it was performed on 3 March 1895.<ref name=Amadeus />

The opera made its premiere in Italy at the Teatro Pagliano ([[Teatro Verdi (Florence)]]) on 26 March 1892. The opera was given in [[Venice]] at the Teatro [[La Fenice]] on 8 March 1893 with Elisa Persini as Dalila and Augusto Brogi as Samson. The work was first given at [[La Scala]] on 17 January 1895 with Renée Vidal as Dalila and Emanuele Lafarge as Samson. This was followed by its first performance at the [[Teatro Regio (Turin)|Teatro Regio di Torino]] on 6 January 1897 with [[Alice Cucini]] and Irma De Spagni alternating as Dalila and [[Hector Dupeyron]] as Samson. The work was first performed at the [[Teatro Regio (Parma)|Teatro Regio di Parma]] that same year and was mounted at the [[Teatro Comunale di Bologna]] in 1899.<ref name=Amadeus />

In England, the opera was first performed on 25 September 1893 at the [[Royal Opera House]], Covent Garden. Although the company planned on performing the work in a fully staged production, the [[Lord Chamberlain]] objected to a Biblical work being mounted and the company was forced to present the opera in a concert version. It was not staged in London until 1909 when the ban was finally lifted. [[Louise Kirkby Lunn]] portrayed Dalila and [[Charles Fontaine]] portrayed Samson in the 1909 production.<ref name=Boston /> Subsequently, [[Paul Franz]] replaced Fontaine in the protagonist's role, earning the composer's praise for both the quality of his voice and his interpretation.

===20th and 21st century performance history===
[[File:Walter Hyde Samson and Delilah 1918.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Walter Hyde]] and Edna Thornton in the 1919 London production of ''Samson and Delilah'' conducted by [[Thomas Beecham|Sir Thomas Beecham]]]]
By 1906, ''Samson et Dalila'' had received more than 200 performances internationally. The opera has continued to remain moderately popular since and, while not being among the most frequently performed operas, the work has become a part of the standard opera performance repertory at most major opera houses. The opera has been revived numerous times not only in Europe and North America, but also in South America, Australia, and Asia.<ref name=Boston/> While none of Saint-Saëns's later operas suffered the tribulations endured by ''Samson et Dalila'' during its early years, none of his other works have achieved the same enduring success either.

In North America, French contralto [[Jeanne Gerville-Réache]] is largely credited for popularizing the work in the United States and Canada during the early twentieth century. Réache first performed the role of Delilah with the [[Manhattan Opera Company]] in New York City in 1908 and went on to sing the role several more times over the next seven years, including performances in [[Philadelphia]], Boston, [[Chicago]], and [[Montreal]] (for the Canadian premiere in 1915).<ref>Kutsch and Riemens, p. 487</ref>

The [[Metropolitan Opera]] revived the opera in its 1915/1916 season with [[Margaret Matzenauer]] as Delilah, [[Enrico Caruso]] as Samson, and [[Pasquale Amato]] as the High Priest. Since then the company has staged productions of the opera at least once every decade giving more than 200 performances of the work. [[Plácido Domingo]] performed as Samson in the 1981 [[San Francisco Opera]] production co-starring [[Shirley Verrett]], under [[Julius Rudel]]<ref>{{IMDb title|tt0204610|Samson et Dalila|(1981)}}</ref> and at the Metropolitan Opera's 1998 production with [[Olga Borodina]].<ref>[http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=331000 ''Samson et Dalila'' 28 September 1998], performance details, Met archives</ref> More recent productions of the opera by the Metropolitan have been in 2006, with [[Marina Domashenko]] and [[Olga Borodina]] alternating as Delilah,<ref>[http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351427 ''Samson et Dalila'', 10 February 2006]; [http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=351442 ''Samson et Dalila'', 25 February 2006], performance details, Met archives</ref> and in 2018 with [[Elīna Garanča]] and [[Roberto Alagna]].<ref>[http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=BibSpeed/fullcit.w?xCID=356997 ''Samson et Dalila'', 25 February 2006], performance details, Met archives</ref> The [[Lyric Opera of Chicago]] gave their first performance of the opera in November 1962 with [[Rita Gorr]] as Delilah and {{ill|Hans Kaart|nl}} as Samson. The company has revived the work numerous times since then, most recently in their 2003/2004 season with Olga Borodina as Dalila and [[José Cura]] as Samson.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lyricopera.org/about/performance-and-cast-archive.aspx|title=Performance & Cast Archive|website=www.lyricopera.org}}</ref> Likewise, the San Francisco Opera has staged the opera 10 times during its history giving its first performance in 1925, with [[Marguerite d'Alvarez]] and [[Fernand Ansseau]] in the principal roles, and its most recent performance in 2008, with Borodina and Clifton Forbis.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.sfopera.com/qry1operalist.asp?x_PlainOpera=Samson+et+Dalila&z_PlainOpera=LIKE,'%25,%25'|title=San Francisco Opera Performance Archive|website=archive.sfopera.com}}</ref>

''Samson et Dalila'' became a consistent presence in the opera houses of Europe. By 1920, the Paris Opéra alone had given more than five hundred performances of the opera. In the decades after World War II, it was less often heard by European audiences; but since the 1980s it has regained much of its former Continental popularity. Recent European productions include performances at [[La Scala]], Milan, in 2002 (Domingo and Borodina); the [[Royal Opera House]], Covent Garden, in 2004 ([[Denyce Graves]] and [[José Cura]]) and again in 2022; the [[Royal Swedish Opera]] in 2008 ([[Anna Larsson (contralto)|Anna Larsson]] and [[Lars Cleveman]]).{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}<!-- <ref>{{cite web|url=http://operabase.com/oplist.cgi?id=none&lang=en&is=Samson+et+Dalila&by=&loc=&stype=abs&sd=2&sm=1&sy=2007&etype=abs&ed=&em=&ey=|title=Performances|website=[[Operabase]]}}{{dead link|date=May 2019}}</ref> -->

{{Listen|type=music
|title="Vois ma misère, hélas!" ("Behold my misery, alas!", act 3, scene 1)
|filename=Enrico Caruso, Camille Saint-Saëns, Vois ma misère, hélas (Samson et Dalila).ogg
|description=[[Enrico Caruso]] premiered the role of Samson at the [[Metropolitan Opera]] in New York City during its 1915/1916 season and recorded "{{Lang|fr|Vois ma misère, hélas!|italic=no}}" in 1916.
}}

Throughout its history, ''Samson et Dalila'' has served as a star vehicle for many singers. The role of Delilah is considered to be one of the great opera roles for the [[mezzo-soprano]].