Note 134 — CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS

The admiration was mutual. M. Saint-Saëns even said that without Liszt he could not have written Samson et Dalila. "Not only did Liszt have Samson et Dalila performed at Weimar, but without him that work would never have come into being. My suggestions on the subject had met with such hostility that I had given up the idea of writing it; and all that existed were some illegible notes.... Then at Weimar one day I spoke to Liszt about it, and he said to me, quite trustingly and without having heard a note, 'Finish your work; I will have it performed here.' The events of 1870 delayed its performance for several years." (Revue Musicale, 8 November, 1901).