"Samson et Dalila is now the sole opera by Saint-Saëns on which his reputation as an operatic composer is based. One of the aims right from the start of this project was to counter this much lamented general limitation in publishing terms, and to place the work in its creative context. But even this major work had to overcome some major obstacles before its position in the repertoire was established: when the first act was performed in a concert version in 1875 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Pari