Semantics of Orientalism in the choral scenes of the opera “Samson and Delilah” by C. Saint-Saëns

Section 2. Ukrainian and World Musical Culture

Abstract

Statement of the problem. Musical Orientalism functions and develops on the basis of integrative connections with the system of humanities, primarily philosophy, aesthetics, history, history of culture, art history, literary studies, since the phenomenon of Orientalism encompasses the main directions and types of artistic activity, starting with the Baroque and flourishing more fully in the art and musical culture of the 18th–20th centuries. As a subject of scientific research, Orientalism is most thoroughly studied in philological sciences, where it is analyzed through the prism of linguistic, literary and cultural texts of Asian regions. However, in the field of musical art it turns out to be no less significant, representing a complex of stylistic means aimed at the artistic reproduction of the image of the East. The paradigm of exotic style in music, according to J.-P. Bartoli, forms a holistic system of artistic techniques that are clearly identifiable and together constitute a universal toolkit for creating the effect of exoticism, which composers have successfully used for centuries (Bartoli, 1997). In A. Mamona’s works, for the first time in Ukrainian musicology, the author’s concept of “new Orientalism” was proposed as a special approach of composers to embodying oriental images in their works (Mamona, 2021; 2024). Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The purpose of the study is to represent the semantics of the oriental component of the choral scenes of the opera “Samson and Delilah” by C. Saint Saëns. For the first time, the article presents a systematic reproduction of the image of the East in the choral scenes of the opera “Samson and Delilah” through a semantic analysis of oriental features. The research methodology is based on systemic-typological, genre-stylistic, semantic and value-semantic approaches. Research results. In the opera “Samson and Delilah” by C. Saint-Saëns, the oriental flavor is combined with religious themes. Along with this, the view of the East is represented by contrasting two worlds – the Western and the Eastern. Samson and the people of Israel represent the Western world, Delilah and the Philistines – the Eastern. This conceptual contrast also finds its expression in musical drama, where choral scenes are not just a musical background, but a powerful dramatic lever. Although both peoples – both Jews and Philistines – belong to the Eastern civilization in the historical context, the composer deliberately uses different musical means to characterize them. Conclusion. C. Saint-Saëns masterfully reveals the mechanisms of musical Orientalism, where exotic elements serve not only as a coloristic effect, but also as a tool for constructing a certain musical semantics of the East. The composer contrasts Western and Eastern musical traditions. The semantics of Orientalism manifests itself at different levels of musical language – mode-intonation, harmonic, dynamic, timbre-textural.