! Related actions
TH 3 - An introduction to the opera
Hours: 18.30 - 19.30 - Venue: "Public" (Hirsch Arcade)
Samson and Dalila is a biblical opera in three acts composed by Camille Saint-Saëns. It has been characterized as a masterpiece of the French opera. The story is based on the famous tale from the Old Testament.
It was presented for the first time on 2nd December 1877. Saint-Saëns wrote the opera for the French who had been beaten at the war with Prussia in 1870-71. Jews’ humiliation was a reminder of their own humiliation. The vows to his country and the purity that the Jews leader reneged was a message to French people to proceed to social reforms and sanitation of their country, after the corruption and decline during Napoleon III’s era.
The same could happen to any society that forgets its ideals, declines and becomes a stooge of its enemies. The leader must remain faithful to his obligations to the country and not get carried away by his own desires and the enemies’ tempting offers.