Among our team of operatic avengers, which does Saint-Saëns's Dalila resemble most?

Shirley Verrett sings Dalila's Act II aria "Amour! Viens aider ma faiblesse" with Julius Rudel conducting in San Francisco, 1981. If the staging at the opening makes you wonder whether the stage director ever listened to the music (forget reading the libretto), we're on the same page.

Samson, seeking my presence again,
this evening is to come to this place.
Here is the hour of vengeance,
which must satisfy our gods.

Love! come aid my weakness!
Pour the poison in his breast!
Make it happen that, conquered by my artfulness,
Samson is in fetters tomorrow!
In vain would he wish to be able
to chase me out of his soul, to banish me.
Could he extinguish the flame
that memory feeds?
He is mine! my slave!
My brothers fear his wrath;
I, along among all, I defy him
and hold him at my knees!

Love! come aid my weakness!
Pour the poison in his breast!
Make it happen that, conquered by my artfulness,
Samson is in fetters tomorrow!
Against strength is useless,
and he, the strong among the strong,
he, who broke his people's chains,
will succumb to my efforts.

by Ken

Okay, here's where we are. Last week, in both the preview ("In which we hear a lady weighted by a heap of hurt") and the main post ("Meet Saint-Saëns's Dalila"), we heard the seductive side of Dalila -- and also the side, whatever you want to call it (I called it deep hurt) displayed in the great solo she sings when she's finally alone at the start of Act II. Then in Friday night's preview we heard her in "vengeance" mode, swearing along with the High Priest of Dagon, to bring Samson down -- and I also introduced several other operatic vengeance-seekers: Mozart's Queen of the Night, Beethoven's prison governor Don Pizarro, and the heroine of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.

I certainly didn't mean to suggest any equivalence among our team of avengers. I wanted to lay the groundwork, because the text of Samson et Dalila doesn't give us much factual background to work with, for the best case I can make that Dalila's closest kin here is Isolde.

First we're going to hear from an actual monster, Don Pizarro in Fidelio, who has been forced into the decision to put an end to the suffering he has been inflicting on his old nemesis, Don Florestan, in a secret dungeon (where, you'll recall, we heard him languishing last month. Then, in the click-through, we'll hear from the Queen of the Night and Isolde, and finally we'll come back to Dalila.

(Note that I've juggled the lineup of recordings somewhat from the samples we heard in Friday night's preview. I wrote a bunch of long-winded explanations and exegeses, and then threw them out. We can talk about some of those issues some other time. Maybe. And note too that inclusion of a recording here doesn't necessarily constitute endorsement. There are some I'm not crazy about but have included for particular reasons.)

BEETHOVEN: Fidelio, Op. 72: Act I, Don Pizarro, "Ha! Welch ein Augenblick" ("Ha! What a moment!")

Ha! What a moment!
My vengeance I will cool;
your fate is calling you!
In its heart dwell,
oh live, good luck!
Already I was nearly in the dust,
by the loud scorn robbed,
there to be stretched.
Now it is up to me,
to commit the murder myself.
In his last hour,
the steel in his wound,
to cry in his ear:
Triumph! Victory is mine!

-- translation by Katharina Fink

Zoltán Kélémen (b), Don Pizarro; Chorus of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Berlin Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. EMI, recorded 1970

Ekkehard Wlaschiha (b), Don Pizarro; Dresden State Opera Chorus, Staatskapelle Dresden, Bernard Haitink, cond. Philips, recorded November 1989

Walter Berry (bs-b), Don Pizarro; Vienna State Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein, cond. Live performance, June 9 or 14, 1970

Hans Hotter (b), Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Otto Klemperer, cond. Testament, recorded live, Feb. 24, 1961

AVENGERS STILL TO COME: WAGNER'S ISOLDE AND
MOZART'S QUEEN OF THE NIGHT. THEN BACK TO DALILA

ISOLDE: Curse you, vile creature,
a curse upon your head!
Vengeance! Death! Death for us both!

This lady sounds seriously peeved. That's (1) Birgit Nilsson, (2) Margaret Price, and (3) Kirsten Flagstad -- the climax of the performances of Isolde's Act I narrative we hear below.


Note the wrinkle in Isolde's vengeance plan: What she has in mind is "death for us both." And she's, um, dead serious. It's not her fault that the plan hits a snag. Now let's proceed with our gallery of avengers.

MOZART'S QUEEN OF THE NIGHT

MOZART: The Magic Flute, K. 620: Act II, Queen of the Night, "Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen" ("Hell's revenge seethes in my heart")"

Hell's revenge seethes in my heart,
Death and despair burn about me!
If Sarastro does not through you feel the pain of death,
then you will be my daughter nevermore.
Disowned may you be forever, abandoned may you be forever,
destroyed be forever by all the bonds of nature,
if Sarastro is not through you made pale.
Hear, hear, hear, gods of revenge,
hear a mother's oath!

Edda Moser (s), Queen of the Night; Bavarian State Opera Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch, cond. EMI, recorded August 1972

Lucia Popp (s), Queen of the Night; Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, cond. EMI, recorded Mar.-Apr. 1964

Wilma Lipp (s), Queen of the Night; Vienna Philharmonic, Wilhelm Furtwängler, cond. Live performance from the Salzburg Festival, July 27, 1949

[in English, sort of] Roberta Peters (s), Queen of the Night; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Live performance, Mar. 3, 1956

WAGNER'S ISOLDE

I feel bad about just plunging us into this great narrative, in which Isolde, on board the ship on which Tristan is transporting her from her native Ireland to Cornwall to marry his uncle, King Marke, fills her trusted sidekick Brangäne in on her history with Tristan. I was going to edit out just the hair-raising curse to which the narrative builds, but that would have defeated the point. While Isolde is indeed extremely angry (to put it mildly) in the early scenes of Act I in which we meet her, at least as angry as the Queen of the Night (who, by the way, also has her reasons for being so wrathful), in this remarkable scene Wagner nevertheless provides a delicately nuanced presentation of her deep anguish.

WAGNER: Tristan und Isolde: Act I, Isolde's Narrative, "Wie lachend sie mir Lieder singen" ("As they laugh and sing their songs at me")

ISOLDE: As they laugh and sing their songs at me,
I well could answer too: how a boat,
small and frail, came to Ireland's coasts,
and in it lay a sick and stricken man, near to death.
Isolde's art was made known to him;
with healing salves and soothing draughts
she faithfully tended the wound that tormented him.
"Tantris," which with studied guile he called himself,
Isolde soon recognized as Tristan,
for into the sick man's sword, in which there was a notch,
there fitted exactly a splinter that her skilled hand
had first found in the head of the Irish knight
sent home to her in scorn.
A cry arose from my inmost being!
With the gleaming sword I stood before him to avenge
Sir Morold's death on him, this overweening knight.
From his couch he looked up,
not at the word, not at my hand,
but looked into my eyes.
With the gleaming sword I stood before him,
to avenge Sir Morold's death
on him, this overweening knight.
From his couch he looked up,
not at the sword, not at my hand,
but looked into my eyes.
His anguish touched my heart.
The sword -- I let fall!
The wound inflicted by Morold
I healed, so that in health
he could travel homeward
and trouble me no more with his gaze!
BRANGÄNE: O wonder! Where were my eyes?
The guest whom once I helped to tend?
ISOLDE: You heard him praised just now:
"Hail! Our lord Tristan!"
This was that wretched man!
With a thousand oaths he swore
to me eternal thanks and fidelity!
Now hear how a hero keeps his oath!
He whom as Tantris I released unexposed,
as Tristan he now boldly returns;
on a proud ship with a high prow
he requests Ireland's heiress as bride
for Cornwall's weary king, for Marke, his uncle.
Had Morold lived, who would have dared
to offer such an affront?
For our vassals the Cornish princes
to seek Ireland's crown!
Ah, woe is me! It was I
who in secret brought this shame upon myself!
Instead of wielding the avenging sword,
I let it fall harmlessly!
Now I must serve our vassal!
BRANGÄNE: When peace, reconciliation and amity
were sworn by all, we hailed the happy day.
How could I have foreseen
that it would cause you such grief?
ISOLDE: Oh blind eyes! Credulous heart!
Despairing silence, feeble courage!
How differently Tristan paraded
what I had kept concealed!
She who in silence gave him his life,
from the enemy's fury quietly hid him,
who silently lent her sanctuary to save him,
both her and all that he abandoned!
Boasting of victory, glorious and bold,
loud and clear he pointed to me:
"There's a treasure, my lord and uncle;
how about that for a wife?
This trim Irish girl I'll bring back to you;
knowing well the way,
with a wave I was off to Ireland;
Isolde -- she's yours!
What a splendid bit of adventure!"
Curse you, vile creature,
a curse upon your head!
Vengeance! Death! Death for us both!
BRANGÄNE [impetuously and tenderly embracing Isolde]:
O sweet one, beloved! Dearest! Beautiful one!
Golden mistress! Dear Isolde!
[She gradually draws Isolde to the couch.]
Listen to me! Come! Sit here!

Birgit Nilsson (s), Isolde; Christa Ludwig (ms), Brangäne; Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra, Karl Böhm, cond. DG/Philips, recorded live, 1966

Margaret Price (s), Isolde; Brigitte Fassbaender (ms), Brangäne; Staatskapelle Dresden, Carlos Kleiber, cond. DG, recorded 1980-82

Kirsten Flagstad (s), Isolde; Sabine Kalter (ms), Brangäne; London Philharmonic Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, cond. Recorded live at Covent Garden, May-June 1936

FINALLY, LET'S COME BACK TO DALILA

The Wikipedia article on Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila says of the libretto, "Delilah is portrayed as a manipulative, conniving, ruthless woman bent on revenge." This is true, I guess, especially if one is speaking specifically of the libretto. But especially if we incorporate the music, and listen to the great monologue that opens Act II, the one time we see the character by herself, and thus presumably totally truthful, while it's certainly true that she's "bent on revenge," what I hear goes way beyond manipulativeness, connivingness, and ruthlessness.

To begin with we're going to listen again to the recording of the recitative and aria by Maria Callas, which we heard originally along with performances by Christa Ludwig and Marjana Lipovšek. Then in recordings that include the atmospheric Act II Prelude, we'll hear another round of Dalilas, all but one of whom (Waltraud Meier) we've heard before in other excerpts.

SAINT-SAËNS: Samson et Dalila, Op. 47: Act II: Prelude: Dalila, "Samson, recherchant ma présence" . . . "Amour! viens aider ma faiblesse!"

The stage represents the valley of Sorek in Palestine. At left, the dwelling of DALILA, fronted by a light portico and surrounded by Asiatic plants and luxuriant vines. Night is beginning, and becomes complete through the course of the act.

Prelude

At curtain rise, DALILA is seated on a rock near the portico of her house, seeming lost in reverie.

DALILA: Samson, seeking my presence again,
this evening is to come to this place.
Here is the hour of vengeance,
which must satisfy our gods.

Love! come aid my weakness!
Pour the poison in his breast!
Make it happen that, conquered by my artfulness,
Samson is in fetters tomorrow!
In vain would he wish to be able
to chase me out of his soul, to banish me.
Could he extinguish the flame
that memory feeds?
He is mine! my slave!
My brothers fear his wrath;
I, along among all, I defy him
and hold him at my knees!

Love! come aid my weakness!
Pour the poison in his breast!
Make it happen that, conquered by my artfulness,
Samson is in fetters tomorrow!
Against strength is useless,
and he, the strong among the strong,
he, who broke his people's chains,
will succumb to my efforts.

Recitative and aria only:

Maria Callas (s), Dalila; Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française, Georges Prêtre, cond. EMI, recorded Mar.-Apr. 1961
Including the prelude:

Risë Stevens (ms), Dalila; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Fausto Cleva, cond. Live performance, Apr. 12, 1958

Elena Obraztsova (ms), Dalila; Orchestre de Paris, Daniel Barenboim, cond. DG, recorded July 1978

Waltraud Meier (ms), Dalila; Orchestra of Opéra-Bastille, Myung-Whun Chung, cond. EMI, recorded July 1-11, 1991

THE SAMSON ET DALILA SERIES

1. SAMSON

Part 1: Introducing Saint-Saëns' Samson, the second-angriest man in opera [3/11/2012]
Chorus and quartet from Act I of Rossini's William Tell
"Arrêtez, ô mes frères" sung by José Luccioni, Mario del Monaco, Plácido Domingo, José Cura, and Jon Vickers
Preview: These two Mystery Openings introduce works that I for one can't wait to hear more of [3/9/2012]
Samson excerpts sung by Georges Thill, Mario del Monaco, Plácido Domingo, Ramón Vinay, and Jon Vickers; plus excerpts from Ponchielli's La Gioconda and Verdi's Otello

Part 2: Let's hear how Samson rallies his people [3/25/2012]
Performances by Jon Vickers, Carlo Cossutta, et al., conducted by Georges Prêtre, Sylvain Cambreling, et al.
Preview: How we get to Samson's heroic first utterance [3/24/2012]
Performances of the opening conducted by Daniel Barenboim and Colin Davis; "Arrêtez, ô mes frères" sung by José Luccioni, Ludovic Spiess, Mario del Monaco

Part 3: Some mighty angry Israelites and Philistines -- the opening scene of Samson et Dalila, part 3 [4/29/2012]
The Abimélech and High Priest scenes, with Ezio Flagello, Simon Estes, Alexander Malta, and Yves Bisson (Abimélech); Paul Cabanel, Renato Bruson, Ezio Pinza, Robet Merrill, and Ernest Blanc (High Priest); Plácido Domingo, José Luccioni, Mario del Monaco, René Maison, Jon Vickers, James King, and Carlo Cossutta (Samson). The complete opening scene conducted by Louis Fourestier (1946, with Luccioni, Charles Cambon, Cabanel) and Georges Prêtre (1962, with Vickers, Anton Diakov, Blanc)

2. DALILA

Meet Saint-Saëns's Dalila [6/17/2012]
Second half of Act I with Louise Homer, Marjana Lipovšek, Elena Obraztsova, Risë Stevens, Maria Callas, Christa Ludwig, and Rita Gorr as Dalila; Enrico Caruso, Plácido Domingo, Mario del Monaco, and Jon Vickers as Samson; Marcel Journet, Harald Stamm, Robert Lloyd, Giorgio Tozzi, Richard Kogel, and Anton Diakov as the Old Hebrew (plus Alain Fondary and Ernest Blanc as the High Priest)
Preview: In which we hear a lady weighted by a heap of hurt [6/15/2012]
"Amour, viens aider ma faiblesse" sung by Maria Callas, Christa Ludwig, and Marjana Lipovšek

Among our team of operatic avengers, which does Saint-Saëns's Dalila resemble most? [6/24/2012]
Preview: Revenge! [6/22/2012]
Quick team takes on Mozart's Queen of the Night, Beethoven's Don Pizarro, and Wagner's Isolde; plus Dalila in vengeance mode with the High Priest in Act II (with Rita Gorr and Ernest Blanc; Marjana Lipovšek and Alain Fondary; and Gertrud Wettergren and Ezio Pinza)

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