Opera
Samson et Dalila
Opulent Saint-Saëns from Melbourne Opera
Melbourne Opera
by Peter Rose •
Simon Meadows as the High Priest, Rosario La Spina as Samson, and Deborah Humble as Dalila (photographs courtesy of Melbourne Opera)
‘Who wants to hear Samson et Dalila?’ Bernard Shaw asked rhetorically (in typically lordly fashion) after a concert version of Camille Saint-Saëns’s opera in 1893, the first time it was presented in Britain. ‘I respectfully suggest, Nobody.’ So Shavianly sure was the comic-curmudgeon that he left after Act Two.
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