Saint-Saëns’s Dalila: She's a Femme Fatale

Aria Code

WQXR & The Metropolitan Opera

Music Interviews, Music Commentary, Aria, Music, Arts, Metropolitan, Performing Arts, Code, Wqxr, Opera, Wnyc, Studios

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 2 January 2019

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

She seduces, she traps, she destroys. She's a femme fatale and her signature aria is the dangerously alluring “Mon coeur s’ouvre a ta voix” from Samson et Dalila by Camille Saint-Saëns. "My heart opens to your voice,” sings Dalila, "like the flowers open to the kisses of the dawn." It sure sounds like a love song, but just below the surface it’s simmering with seduction and betrayal.

In this episode, host Rhiannon Giddens welcomes mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča, writer James Jorden of Parterre Box and scholar Caroline Blyth. Her guests reflect on the Biblical story of Samson and Delilah, the trope of the femme fatale and how Saint-Saëns created this unforgettable moment that sounds as if Dalila’s slowly removing her clothing, one note at a time. Plus, you'll hear Garanča sing the complete aria from the Metropolitan Opera stage.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The voice is just incredible, thick honey river.
0:09.4	There is just like an oil which just covers your body around it and you don't even realize
0:14.0	that suddenly it's everywhere around you.
0:18.4	From WQXR in the metropolitan opera, this is Ariacode.
0:22.4	I'm Rianne Giddens.
0:24.0	As she sings, it's almost as if she's slowly removing her clothing one note at a time.
0:29.5	My mission? Break down one famous aria so you can hear it with fresh ears.
0:35.0	On this episode, it's Montqueur Sous-Vr à Tavoie, from San-Sons et Dalela, by Tamis San-Sons.
0:43.0	We think she really loves him.
0:45.1	And then in the following scene, vengeance is all she's after.
0:49.3	And we see just how terrifyingly treacherous she is.
1:00.5	The femme fatale.
1:04.5	She seduces, she ensnairs, and sometimes she destroys men.
1:09.6	And it's kind of an ugly cliche, but it's one that's stuck around for as long as we've been telling stories.
1:15.1	I'm not really a fan of it myself.
1:17.5	I prefer more of an ass-kicking lady, like the girl with the dragon pet too, for example.
1:21.8	But the femme fatale makes for good drama, which is why of course we find her in opera.
1:28.0	We've got Carmen, Lulu, and the one we borrowed from the Bible, Delilah, well in French in St-Dalela.
1:35.0	She seduces her ex-lover Samson for cold hard cash, and then she betrays and destroys him,
1:41.3	leaving him blind, and with a really bad haircut.
1:44.9	San-Sons et Dalela is based on the biblical story.
1:48.4	And in Act 2, when Dalela seduces San-Sons, we hear one hell of a gorgeous aria, Montqueur Sous-Vr à Tavoie.
	...

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