Ferdinand Lemaire Explained

Ferdinand Lemaire (1832–1879)^[1] was a French librettist and poet, best known for writing the libretto of Camille Saint-Saëns's opera Samson et Dalila.

Lemaire was a creole, originally from Martinique, and had married a cousin of Saint-Saëns's wife. Saint-Saëns had previously set two of his poems, “Souvenance” and “Tristesse”, for voice and piano.^[2] Approached by the composer to write an oratorio on the story of Samson and Delilah, Lemaire agreed, but only if the work was to be an opera.^[3]

Notes and References

1. http://tempeldertoonkunst.blogspot.com/2007/12/eigentijdse-samson-et-dalia-van-opera.html Article on the opera by Heinz Wallisch
2. Web site: "The Libretto and Source of Saint-Saëns Samson and Delilah" . 2009-02-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20060821151009/http://www.operapaedia.org/Opera.aspx?article=1206&id=4037 . 2006-08-21 . dead .
3. Book: Sadie. Stanley. Stanley Sadie . 1992. The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, vol 3, p. 1141. Oxford University Press. Oxford. 978-0-19-522186-2.