Lost Operas By Jean-Philippe Rameau - Samson

Rameau intended this work on the theme of Samson and Delilah as the follow-up to his first opera Hippolyte et Aricie. Like that, Samson was a tragédie en musique in five acts. Rameau's librettist was Voltaire, a great admirer of his music, and the two began collaboration in December 1733. However, an opera on a religious subject with a libretto by such a notorious critic of the Church was bound to run into controversy. The first Biblical opera to be given publicly in France had been Montéclair's Jephté (as recently as 1732) and that had been withdrawn from the stage after only a handful of performances. In spite of this, Rameau and Voltaire ploughed on and by October 1734 most of the score was complete and parts (including Acts III and V) were given a private concert performance. After this, Rameau appears to have had second thoughts about the viability of the project and he turned his attention to composing the opéra-ballet Les Indes galantes instead. Voltaire was deeply disappointed because he believed the work was "Rameau's masterpiece". The libretto has survived, but the score has not, although Rameau reused some of the music in his later operas. Voltaire's drama had some influence on Saint-Saëns's opera Samson et Dalila.