The
trend of exoticism in music reached a new height during the late nineteenth
century. It was during this time that Camille Saint-Saëns wrote his Samson and Delilah (1877), a famous
opera based on the story of Samson from the Old Testament. Let’s continue our
exoticism theme this month by looking at the “Danse Bacchanale” from Samson and Delilah.
The
famous Biblical story of Samson tells of a Nazarite man who was consecrated
before God. One sign of his Nazarite vow and mighty strength was his long
hair—he maintained his strength as long as he never cut his hair. When seduced
by a Philistine woman named Delilah, Samson lost his strength after allowing
her to cut his hair. The Philistines bound and blinded poor Samson, taking him
to the temple of their god, Dagon. In the opera, the Philistines perform their
pagan rites accompanied by the famous “Danse Bacchanale.”
In
order to give the music a foreign flair, Saint-Saëns uses castanets,
hypnotizing rhythms, augmented seconds, and an improvisatory, Middle
Eastern-sounding oboe. Listen below for these exotic traits:
Next
week is Mozart’s birthday, so it’s only right to talk about exoticism in his “Rondo
all Turca.” Join me then!
