"Mon cœur s'ouvre À ta voix"
My heart opens at your voice
My heart opens at your voice
Like the flowers open
To the kisses of the dawn!
But, oh my beloved,
To better dry my tears,
Let your voice speak again!
Tell me that you are returning to Delilah forever!
Respond to my tenderness
With the promises of old times,
Those promises that I loved!
Ah! respond to my tenderness!
Fill me with ecstasy!
Like one sees the blades of wheat that wave
in the light wind,
So trembles my heart, ready to be consoled,
by your voice that is so dear to me!
An arrow is less rapid in bringing death,
than your love is when flying into your arms!
Ah! respond to my tender affection!
Fill me with ecstasy!
Ah! Samson, Samson, I love you!
This tantalising aria is from the opera Samson and Delilah by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns, based on Old Testament and Hebrew Biblical stories. Delilah, High Priestess of the Philistines – who believe in earthly pleasure over heavenly rewards – uses all her charm, beauty and powers of seduction to entice Samson, the heroic leader of the enslaved Iraelites, into loving her. In this aria, her declaration of love to Samson is triumphant as she sees that she has been successful in distracting him from his calling to lead the Hebrews to salvation.
Most biblical works are set to music as unstaged Oratorios, but the librettist, Ferdinand Lemaire, convinced Saint-Saëns to create an opera instead. However this break from tradition was not intially well recieved and no French opera houses wanted to take the new work. After its eventual premiere in Weimar in 1877, the opera slowly gained popularity and was finally premiered in Paris in 1892.