Austin Symphonic Band Performing “Danse Bacchanale” from Samson and Delilah

Описание: Austin Symphonic Band ( https://austinsymphonicband.org/ ). April 13, 2025. ASB performing “Danse Bacchanale” from Samson and Delilah by Camille Saint-Saëns (arr. Leigh D. Steiger). [NOTE: Click 'more' to read the program notes.] Assistant Music Director Bill Haehnel conducting. "Celebration" concert at the Connally HS Performing Arts Center in Austin, TX.

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Video and Sound Production: Eddie Jennings

From the program notes written by David Cross:

Danse Bacchanale (from Samson and Delilah) (1877)
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Arranged by Leigh D. Steiger

The opera Samson and Delilah is based on the Old Testament story of Samson, a strongman whose secret lies in his long, uncut hair, and his love for Delilah, the woman who seduces him, discovers his secret, and then betrays him to the Philistines. The Bacchanale, named for Bacchus the Greek God of revelry, which begins the third act, is a wild and sensuous dance that Delilah, along with other women, uses to seduce Samson.

In 1949, Cecil B. DeMille produced and directed a movie based on Samson and Delilah. The film was praised for its Technicolor cinematography, costumes, sets, innovative special effects and performances by Hedy Lamarr, Victor Mature, and Angela Lansbury. A massive commercial success, it became the highest-grossing film of 1950, and the third highest-grossing film ever at the time of its release. Of its five Academy Award nominations, the film won two for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design.

Saint-Saëns’ prodigious talent was recognized at an early age. He displayed perfect pitch and enjoyed picking out tunes on the piano. His great-aunt taught him the basics of the piano, and when he was seven he became a pupil of Camille-Marie Stamaty. Stamaty required his students to play while resting their forearms on a bar situated in front of the keyboard, so that all the pianist's power came from the hands and fingers rather than the arms, which, Saint-Saëns later wrote, was good training. Clémence Saint-Saëns, well aware of her son's precocious talent, did not wish him to become famous too young. The music critic Harold C. Schonberg wrote of Saint-Saëns in 1969, "It is not generally realized that he was the most remarkable child prodigy in history, and that includes Mozart."

His life was spent mostly in Paris, although he did travel widely to perform and conduct.

Listen for:
• Exotic oboe solos with Middle Eastern scales
• A rhythmic timpani part that drives the band
• A slow motion section that temporarily suspends the driving beat
• A finale with horns to-the-fore