SAMSON BY RAMEAU
- Recording Date 12 July 2024
- Language Sung in French
- Realisation Corentin Leconte
- Co-production ARTE France, Camera Lucida
- Video available for replay until Monday 11 January 2027
- Photo © Monika Rittershaus
BROADCASTED ON
NEW WORK BY CLAUS GUTH AND RAPHAËL PICHON FREELY BASED ON SAMSON, A LOST OPERA BY JEAN-PHILIPPE RAMEAU AND A CENSURED LIBRETTO BY FRANÇOIS-MARIE AROUET DIT VOLTAIRE (1734 AND 1736), INSPIRED BY THE BIBLE (THE BOOK OF JUDGES)
WORLD PREMIERE FESTIVAL D’AIX-EN-PROVENCE
A COPRODUCTION WITH THÉÂTRE NATIONAL DE L’OPÉRA-COMIQUE
GRANDE DONATRICE D’EXCEPTION DU FESTIVAL D’AIX-EN-PROVENCE
WITH THE SUPPORT OF AMMODO, KAROLINA BLABERG STIFTUNG MÉCÈNE ORIGINELLE DE LA CRÉATION AND CERCLE DES MÉCÈNES ASSOCIÉS
When, in 1733, Voltaire, the most brilliant mind of his day, collaborates with Rameau, its greatest composer, in undertaking an ambitious reform of operatic practice, the result is the biblical opera Samson. But the libretto is condemned and the score lost – possibly reworked here and there in later compositions. Claus Guth and Raphaël Pichon, haunted by this interesting project that had turned into one of the most intriguing failures in operatic history, have tried, not to recreate the letter, but to revive the spirit: to marry a strong, noble libretto with the most eloquent music. Samson is the chosen of God, but his extraordinary strength isolates him as much as it marks him out: a succession of failed love affairs turns him into a destructive force, making this biblical Hercules the first suicidal to be a mass murderer. Supporting Jarrett Ott, Jacquelyn Stucker and Lea Desandre in the principal roles, the Pygmalion chorus and orchestra become important actors in a fresco that is both sublime and astonishingly modern.