Saint-Saëns’ “Amour! viens aider ma faiblesse!” from “Samson et Dalila”: A Dark Prayer
Throughout Camille Saint-Saëns’ 1877 opera, Samson et Dalila, Op. 47, the cunning and seductive Dalila has three prominent mezzo-soprano arias. In the most famous, Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix from Act II, Dalila lures Samson by comparing her heart to an open flower. Earlier in Act II, while seething with vengeance, she utters to the Philistine gods the dark prayer, Amour! viens aider ma faiblesse! Verse le poison dans son sein! (“Love! …