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Only three pieces out of Saint-Saëns’ operatic repertoire were commissions of the Opéra de Paris: Henry VIII (1883), Ascanio (1890) and Les Barbares (1901). Samson et Dalila (1877) took a long time to make its appearance there, but once featured in 1892, its success was guaranteed. Frédégonde (1895) by Eugène Guiraud, completed by Saint-Saëns and Paul Dukas, was produced on the great Parisian stage, but did not live up to expectations. Other works took different routes, meeting with contrasting fortunes. But the distrust felt towards an “atypical” composer, unaccommodating critics or plain bad luck often destined his works – which we are gradually rediscovering today – to an unfair fate.
The Opéra-Comique staged a few works, but La Princesse jaune (1872) was not well received and Proserpine (1887) saw its successful start interrupted by the fire at the Salle Favart, home to the Opéra-Comique. On the other hand, Phryné (1893) was a triumph and Hélène (1904) and L’Ancêtre (1906) were put on there after being produced at the Théâtre de Monte-Carlo. Déjanire (1911), in its new form, was also staged first in Monte-Carlo, then at the Opéra de Paris, just as Hélène was (shown again in 1919).
Le Timbre d’argent (1877), produced at the Théâtre-Lyrique after 13 years of tribulations, was performed 35 years later in Brussels. For its part, Étienne Marcel (1879), after its production in Lyon, never reached the stage at the Opéra de Paris, which only allowed “new pieces” at the time.

In 1896, the patron Fernand Castelbon de Beauxhostes persuaded Saint-Saëns to consider hosting open-air performances in Béziers’ bullfighting arenas, which would prove to have excellent acoustics. The Festival of Béziers, which aspired to become the “French Bayreuth”, would rally together all of the region’s musical talents – actors, singers and dancers, supported by renowned soloists, choirs, wind and brass bands – for performances held before a 12,000-strong crowd, amidst truly grandiose surroundings.
On 28 & 29 August 1898, the Festival opened with Déjanire, a tragedy by Louis Gallet, for which Saint-Saëns had written choruses and ballet music. The attentions of Heracles for Iole, of which Deianira was jealous, were played out against a backdrop of Ancient Greece. To win back her husband, Deianira gave him a tunic, not knowing that it was poisoned. The play was staged again in 1899, then in 1903.
On 17 & 19 August 1902, the Festival of Béziers produced Parysatis, the libretto for which was written by novelist and archaeologist Jane Dieulafoy, and the music, choruses and ballet music by Saint-Saëns. Against the monumental backdrop of the Palace of Susa, this drama in three acts with a prologue chronicles the life of Parysatis, the illegitimate daughter of Artaxerxes I, King of Persia and Babylon. The whole production brought together 450 musicians, 250 chorists and 60 dancers. The work was put on again the following year, on 9 & 11 August 1903.

The initial score for Samson et Dalila were sketched out in 1859. No one believed that this piece, so atypical for the times, would be a success: with a composer who had not won the Prix de Rome, an unknown librettist, a biblical subject and a leading role given to a contralto acting a free-spirited woman: this was all more than enough to put opera directors off from staging it. For all that, thanks to Franz Liszt’s backing, Samson et Dalila should have been produced in Weimar in 1870, but was cancelled on account of the Franco-Prussian war and finally created in 1877. The French production was held at the Théâtre des arts de Rouen, on 3 March 1890, before being staged at the Théâtre de l’Éden in Paris on 31 October. It was not until 23 November 1892, however, that the opera finally drew accolades at the Opéra de Paris, which then kept it on its programme for decades. The role of Dalila had been written for Pauline Viardot, but she had lost her vocal means by the time the work finally reached the Opéra. This is something the composer regretted for the rest of his life, declaring ruefully in his final days that: “The real Dalila has not yet been found, and I believe that she never will be.”

This operatic tragedy in 3 acts with a prologue is the fruit of a collaborative venture between Saint-Saëns, Victorien Sardou and Pierre-Barthélémy Gheusi. The plans to stage it outdoors in Orange’s Roman Theatre did not work out, and it was produced instead at the Opéra de Paris, on 23 October 1901, with highly realistic set design and costumes against a backdrop of ancient ruins. To save the city of Orange, besieged by Nordic barbarian hordes, the Roman vestal virgin Floria agrees to follow the German leader Marcomir (with whom she is secretly in love). But he is killed by Livia, a grief-stricken widow, to avenge the death of her husband, Consul Scaurus, assassinated by the enemy. This work also seeks to highlight the contrast between barbarism and civilisation, the German and Latin worlds. Saint-Saëns was won over by the prospect of working with Sardou and by the idea of setting to music a historical subject to his liking: “There’s fighting, love and murder – this is going to be intense; a shockingly brutal affair.”

This opera in 4 acts and 6 scenes, based on a libretto by Armand Sylvestre and Léonce Détroyat, was produced on 5 March 1883 with a first-rate cast and all of the luxury set design of traditional grand opera, a genre which still appealed to Saint-Saëns. Set designer Eugène Lacoste had access to the English royal collections, where he copied the period costumes with an exquisite eye for detail. For his part, Saint-Saëns did not hold back from adding Renaissance music quotations to his score to make it seem even more authentic. The work relates the episode in the life of the King of England when he wishes to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon in order to marry Anne Boleyn; this divorce was the spark that led to the Church of England breaking away from the authority of the Pope.
Here, Saint-Saëns draws on his skilful handling of voices and orchestra to demonstrate the full breadth of human sentiment in a imposing score. 

Produced in 1890, this monumental work, in 5 acts and 7 scenes, was based on a libretto by Louis Gallet, which was in turn inspired by Paul Meurice’s play. It tells of a chapter in the life of sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, unfolding amidst the love affairs and rivalries of King François I’s court. “This libretto is so amusing to work with, with all these different love stories – Scozzone pines for Benvenuto, Benvenuto for Colombe, the Duchess for Ascanio, Ascanio and Colombe; these four love stories all grapple with different emotions. It is a sweeping study of the human heart.”
The subject provides the pretext for elaborate set design, still in the style of grand opera, reproducing historical fact as faithfully as possible. The scenery beckons the audience into the King of France’s court, more specifically the reception given for Charles Quint with ballet and entertainment in the gardens of Fontainebleau, in Benvenuto Cellini’s studio and in the streets of the old city of Paris.
Staged again by the Opéra de Paris in November 1921 and conducted by Reynaldo Hahn, Ascanio was the last of his own operas that Saint-Saëns would see on stage, before departing for Algiers where he would pass away on 16 December 1921.