Samson (opera)
Rameau intended the opera on the theme of Samson and Delilah as the successor to his debut Hippolyte et Aricie, which premiered in October 1733.
However, a work on a religious subject with a libretto by such a notorious critic of the Church was bound to run into controversy and Samson was banned.
Rameau was 50 when he made his operatic debut with the tragédie en musique Hippolyte et Aricie at the Paris Opéra on 1 October 1733.
Hippolyte provoked immense controversy, with conservative critics attacking it because of the music's "quantity, complexity and allegedly Italianate character".
They also feared Rameau's new style would destroy the traditional French operatic repertoire, especially the works of its founder Jean-Baptiste Lully.
Disputes would rage for years between Rameau's supporters, the so-called ramistes (or ramoneurs, literally "chimney sweeps"), and his opponents, the lullistes.
He put aside Tanis and began writing a new tragédie en musique based on the story of Samson with Rameau in mind.
Even that had faced problems with censorship when the Archbishop of Paris had temporarily suspended performances, but Voltaire probably believed that the story of Samson would be more acceptable because it was less religious than that of Jephthah.
In June 1734 the Parliament of Paris had condemned Voltaire's Lettres philosophiques and the book had been burned publicly in front of the Palais de Justice.
[11][12] On 14 September Voltaire's friend Madame du Châtelet wrote that the censors of the Sorbonne had begun to make nitpicking complaints about Samson, for example, Voltaire had attributed some of the miracles of Moses to Samson, he had made fire from heaven fall from the right rather than the left ("a great blasphemy"), and he had only put one column in the Philistine temple instead of the requisite two.
[13] Although Voltaire's absence made work on the opera difficult, rehearsals of Samson went ahead on 23 October 1734 at the home of Louis Fagon, the Intendant des finances.
The libretto's mixture of the sacred and profane, as well as the choice of Delilah (a seductress and betrayer) as heroine, together with Voltaire's recent clash with the authorities, all probably contributed to the ban.
[34] A portion of the opera was performed in Paris in 1791, when the remains of Voltaire were brought to the Panthéon in a huge procession during the early French Revolution.
Hercules and Bacchus admit that love has made them forget about their famous military victories and they offer their obedience to Pleasure.
When the king refuses, Samson proves that God is on his side by making water spontaneously flow from the marble walls of the palace.
The Philistines, including the king, the high priest and Delilah, pray to their gods Mars and Venus[36] to save them from Samson.
Fresh from his victories, Samson arrives and is lulled to sleep by the murmuring of a stream and the music of the priestesses of Venus, celebrating the festival of Adonis.
The king agrees and, once the Israelites have left, Samson seizes the columns of the temple and pushes them over, bringing down the whole building on himself and the Philistines.
