Bacchanale
Camille Saint-Saëns (arr. Egner)
Subtitle: From Samson & Delila
General Info
Year: 1877 / 1926
Duration: c. 6:00
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Carl Fischer
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - Unknown
Instrumentation
Full Score
C Piccolo
D-flat Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III-IV
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-II-III-IV
E-flat Horn or Alto I-II-III-IV
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion, including:
- Castanets
- Crash Cymbals
- Slapstick
- Tambourine
- Triangle
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Bacchanale comes from Saint-Saens's 1877 opera Samson et Delila, which is based on the Biblical story of those two characters. In both the opera and the Bible, Samson is a leader of the Israelites, who are in the midst of a revolt against their malevolent rulers, the Philistines. The Philistines want to bring him down, so they send one of their own, a woman named Delila, to seduce him and discover the source of his extreme physical strength. It turns out that secret is his long hair, which binds him in a vow to God. But Samson does not let that secret slip easily: he misleads Delila several times before finally revealing the true secret. Yet when that is done, Delila shaves his hair while he sleeps, allowing the Philistines to capture and blind him. After years of forced labor at their hands, Samson winds up in the temple of Dagon, one of the Philistine deities, in Gaza. There, he prays to God to restore his strength, and he pulls down the central columns of the temple, killing himself and all of the Philistines inside. Each version of the story has its nuances (e.g., the Bible says Samson killed 1000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass!) so it’s worth your time to investigate both.
The Bacchanale occurs in Act III of the opera, just before Samson is led into the temple of Dagon. It is a depraved dance performed by the priests of Dagon. Saint-Saens loved “exotic” sounds, so he used an exceptionally exotic sounding scale for a good chunk of the piece: it contains two one-and-a-half step gaps (from the 2nd to 3rd steps and the 6th to 7th steps). While that does heighten the exoticness of the piece, it is not authentic to any world musical tradition.
- Program note by Andy Pease
Media
- Audio CD: Detroit Concert band (L.B. Smith, conductor) - 2004
- Audio CD: United States Navy Band (Ralph M. Gambone, conductor) - 15 March 2006
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- University of Kansas Wind Ensemble (Paul W. Popiel, conductor) – 12 November 2015
- West County Winds (San Pablo, Calif.) (Jessica Bejarano, conductor) - 8 June 2013
- United States Navy Band (Brian O. Walden, conductor) - February 2013 West Coast Tour
- Matthews Concert Band (William Penfield, conductor) - 1 November 2012
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- Le Carnaval des Animaux (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Onodera) (1886/2018)
All Wind Works
- Aquarium (arr. Moore) (1886/2011)
- Bacchanale (arr. Balent) (1877/2002)
- Bacchanale (arr. Egner) (1877/1926)
- Bacchanale (arr. Hubbell) (1877/1991)
- Bacchanale from "Samson and Delila" (arr. Fall) (1877/1938)
- Bacchanale from "Samson and Delila" (arr. Hanna) (1877/)
- Carnival of the Animals (arr. Brand)
- The Carnival of the Animals (arr. Bocook) (1886/2006)
- The Carnival of the Animals (arr. Curnow) (1886/2008)
- Carnival of the Animals, The (arr. Goto). See Le Carnaval des Animaux
- Chorale for Wind Band and Melodic Percussion (arr. Giroux) (2015)
- Danse Bacchanale (arr. Steiger) (1877/1985)
- Danse Bacchanale (arr. Bocook) (1877/2004)
- Danse Bacchanale (arr. Singleton) (1877/)
- Danse Macabre (arr. Bender)
- Danse Macabre (tr Hindsley) (tr. Hindsley) (1874/197-?)
- Danse Macabre (arr. Laurendeau) (1874/1903)
- Danse Macabre (arr. Brian Sheldon) (1874/)
- Danse Macabre (arr. Slawson) (1874/2013)
- Part One, "Organ Symphony" (no. 3 (tr. Hindsley) (1886/197-?)
- Finale, Symphony No 3 in C (arr. Slocum) (1886/1974)
- Finale to "Hail! California" (ed. Martin) (1915/2015)
- Finale from "Symphony No. 3" (arr. VanDoren) (1886/2022)
- First Movement, "Organ Symphony" (no. 3) (tr. Hindsley) (1886/197-?)
- Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (tr. Bulla) (1863/)
- Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (arr. Kessler) (1863/)
- La Princesse Jaune (arr. Odom) (1872/1980)
- La Princesse Jaune (arr. Lake) (1872/1929)
- La Princesse Jaune (arr. Schyns) (1872/2002)
- Le Carnaval des Animaux (arr. Goto) (1886/2000/2012)
- Le Carnaval des Animaux (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Onodera) (1886/2018)
- March-Scherzo (arr. Marcus) (1853/2015)
- Marche Dédiée aux Étudiants d'Alger (orch. Bouchel) (1921/1925)
- Marche Heroïque (arr. Winterbottom) (1871/1906)
- Marche Interalliée (orch. Balay) (1918/2014)
- Marche Militaire Francaise (tr. Hindsley) (1880/1958)
- Marche Militaire Francaise (arr. Lake) (1880/1913)
- Mon Coeur s'ouvre à ta voix (tr. Niese) (1877/2012)
- Morceau de Concert (arr. Respresas Carrera) (1887/2013)
- Morceau de Concert (tr. Nelson) (1887/1979)
- Orient et Occident (ed. Whitwell) (1869)
- Orient et Occident (arr. Hauswirth) (1869)
- Orient et Occident (ed. Reynish) (1869/1995)
- Orient et Occident (arr. Schissel) (1869/2005)
- Pas Redoublé (arr. Frackenpohl) (1887/1972)
- Prelude and Processional (arr. Elkus) (1883/1957)
- Second Movement, "Organ Symphony" (no. 3) (tr. Hindsley) (1886/200-?)
- Sur les bords du Nil (ed. Hauswirth) (1908/2019)
- Theme from "Samson and Delilah" (arr. Davis) (1877/1964)
- Vers la Victoire (orch. Dondeyne) (1918/2014)
Resources
- Andy Pease's Wind Band Blog
- Saint-Saens, C.; Enger, P. (1926). Bacchanale : From Samson et Delila [score]. Carl Fischer: New York.