Le Déluge Op. 45, is a French oratorio

Oratorio

An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...

 written by Camille Saint-Saëns

Camille Saint-Saëns

Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...

 in 1875 and scored for orchestra, chorus, and soloists. The libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

, a "poème biblique" by Louis Gallet

Louis Gallet

Louis Gallet was an inexhaustible French writer of operatic libretti, plays, romances, memoirs, pamphlets, and innumerable articles, who is remembered above all for his adaptations of fiction—and Scripture— to provide librettos of cantatas and opera, notably by composers Georges...

, is based on the biblical story of Noah and the flood

Noah's Ark

Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...

. It was premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet

Théâtre du Châtelet

The Théâtre du Châtelet is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.One of two theatres built on the site of a châtelet, a small castle or fortress, it was designed by Gabriel Davioud at the request of Baron Haussmann between 1860 and...

 on March 5, 1876, under the direction of Edouard Colonne

Édouard Colonne

Édouard Juda Colonne was a French conductor and violinist, who was a champion of the music of Berlioz and other eminent 19th-century composers.-Life and career:...

.

Stylistically, the work shows the influence of Berlioz

Hector Berlioz

Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...

 and Wagner

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

 in its musical illustrations of the narrative and use of recurring motifs

Leitmotif

A leitmotif , sometimes written leit-motif, is a musical term , referring to a recurring theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical idea of idée fixe...

. It also displays Saint-Saëns's strong predilection for counterpoint

Counterpoint

In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...

; there are three fugues

Fugue

In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....

incorporated into the music.

The work is divided into three parts and a prelude:

• Prélude
• I. Corruption de l'homme — Colère de Dieu — Alliance avec Noé
• II. L'Arche — Le Déluge
• III. La Colombe — Sortie de l'Arche — Bénédiction de Dieu

The prelude is scored for strings only and contains a passage for solo violin. Part I describes the sinfulness of man and God's decision to destroy the world ("J'exterminerai cette race"). Part II is a long crescendo and decrescendo depicting the rain and rising waters of the flood. Part III evokes the flights of the dove and ends with God's promise not to curse the earth ("Je ne maudirai plus la terre") and a choral fugue ("Croissez donc et multipliez").

Although Le Déluge is sometimes listed among Saint-Saëns best compositionsSabina Teller Ratner, et al. "Saint-Saëns, Camille." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online., it is rarely performed today. The prelude is sometimes extracted as a concert piece.

External links

• Libretto in a supplement to L'Art moderne from 1884