Revised by James Karas
Go to Aix-en-Provence and see the premiere of an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau and Voltaire called Samson. If you were in Paris in 1733 you could have almost seen it, but the church gave a resounding NO to the production and that was the end of it. Until 2024, that is. The history of the opera is almost as interesting as its first production this year at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
A few details will have to suffice. In 1734 Voltaire approached Rameau, the greatest composer of the time, to put together an opera. He completed the libretto and Rameau composed the score by midyear. The Catholic Church ruled that an opera on a religious subject was out of the question. Voltaire kept the libretto and it’s easily available, but Rameau did not keep the score. But he did use parts of the music in other operas.
In 2024 director Claus Gutz and conductor Raphael Pichon decided to adapt the libretto and hunt down Rameau’s music and in the end create a new work, a retelling of the Samson story that finds its roots in the Bible, in Voltaire and Rameau, in today’s world of war and inhumanity. It is a unique take that is difficult to pin down but full of fascination.
Both Voltaire and Guth-Pichon set Samson in “the present” but Voltaire starts with Bacchus. Hercules. Virtue, the Followers of Virtue and Voluptuousness surrounded by Pleasures and Loves. Guth-Pichon gets rid of all of them.
Samson, Aix-en-Provence Festival 2024 (c) Ruth Walz
The opera opens in the present with Samson’s mother, a non-singing role played by Andrea Ferreol. She is at Samson’s grave in the ruins of the temple that he brought down in the final outburst of his strength killing a countless number of people. She wants to understand what happened. She will go back in the life of her son to try and understand what has happened.
We learn that she could not bear a child, but she became pregnant and God informed her that her son will have superhuman power. The Hebrews are the slaves of the Philistines and looking for a liberator. Samson (Jarett Ott) appears wearing white attire and not in the biblical description of covered by the skin of a lion that he killed with his bare hands.
The Philistines wear black, and the Hebrews are in white clothes but there is no pronounced dichotomy between good and evil. In fact, Samson sees the beautiful Timnah (Lea Desandre), a Philistine, falls in love with her and marries her. There is an inexplicable row during the wedding celebration and Samson reacts with horrendous violence. Timnah leaves Samson and his mother is at a loss to understand her son’s behaviour.
These are times of trouble in general and between the Hebrews and the Philistines in particular. We do not know the particulars, but we do see Samson the recluse coming back. The Philistines know his superhuman strength and send the beautiful Delilah (Jacquelyn Stucker) to seduce him and find the source of his power. As the Bible tells us and the whole world knows, Samson betrays his greatest secret and tells Delilah that his strength lies in his long hair. Delilah is paid for her treachery to her lover Judas-like with gold pieces thrown at her. Like Christ’s betrayer, she kills herself.
Samson, Aix-en-Provence Festival 2024 (c) Ruth Walz
Samson is shorn and blinded and kept like a weak slave in the temple of the Philistines. They of course celebrate their great victory, but Samson regains his strength and brings down the temple killing all the Philistine and himself.
We see his mother again on the spot where he is buried under the rubble of the temple, reemerging from the past and trying to understand her son’s behaviour in the past and in his final act.
Much of the singing of Samson falls on American baritone Jarett Ott. He goes through the emotional and vocal demands of the opera with apparent ease. Guth and Pichon do not make it easy to understand the person, despite repeated references to chapter and verse of the Book of Judges of the Old Testament. Ott sings with resonance in an admirable performance. Soprano Jacquelyn Stucker and mezzo soprano Lea Desandre sing gorgeously as the two women that attracted the Hebrew Samson to marry them. Special kudos to the Pygmalion Chorus and Orchestra under the direction of Pichon.
The production required some extraordinary sets, lighting and special effects. The brilliant Guth and Pichon are responsible for the concept of the opera and the attendant musical and dramatic details. Without them nothing would have been possible. Extraordinary light and video effects by Bertrand Couderc, sets by Etienne Pluss, Costumes by Ursula Kudma, sound by Mathis Nitschke, all added to the outstanding production values.
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Samson by Claus Guth and Raphael Pichon based on the lost opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau and the libretto of Voltaire continues in repertory until July 18 2024 at the Théâtre de l'Archevêché, Aix-en-Provence, France. http://festival-aix.com/
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