Saint-Saëns - String Quartet No. 1 In E Minor, Opus 112

Camille Saint-Saëns was no stranger to chamber music. He wrote 26 pieces for different chamber ensembles between 1851 and 1898 that included works for violin and piano, cello and piano,  2 piano trios, 2 piano quartets, a piano quintet; even a septet for trumpet, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass, and piano. Conspicuous by its absence is any works for string quartet.  Student, friend, and fellow composer Gabriel Fauré said that, "Saint-Saëns had a fear of it and only risked himself there towards the end of his life."

What could have caused Saint-Saëns,an accomplished composer of orchestral works, operas, and all of his previous chamber works, to shy away from  writing a string quartet? Fauré had his own similar fear of the form, as he didn't write but one string quartet himself, at the age of 79 in 1924, and thought the Beethoven string quartets should strike fear into any composer. And even Beethoven himself composed chamber music for other ensembles besides string quartet until he thought he was worthy to carry on the tradition set down by Haydn and Mozart. Perhaps it was the same with Saint-Saëns, as tradition can be a daunting thing. But the form itself is challenging.

There is no room for fluff, no room to hide any inferior music thought in a string quartet. It is music laid bare. Not to say that the string quartet is not capable of amazing color, verve, excitement, solemness, and emotion. But where a clever bit of orchestration can add flavor and color to music, the string quartet is limited. 

Saint-Saëns composed his first string quartet in 1899 when he was 64 years old, and dedicated it to the young Belgian violinist Eugène  , who perhaps encouraged the writing of it, and played in the premiere of the work. Saint-Saëns wrote a letter to his publisher about the quartet:

If I hadn’t written this quartet, the aestheticians would have drawn all kinds of conclusions from this omission, and they would have found what it was in my nature that had stopped me from writing one and why I was incapable of writing one! Have no doubt about it, I know what they’re like. And all the while I had not accomplished this necessary task, I was afraid of passing away too soon, I could not rest easy. Now I don’t care about any of it.

I. Allegro -  The strings all have their mutes on as the quartet begins with an F-sharp in the 1st violin, and the successive notes in the other three instruments of E, C, and A. Theoretically, this could be a F-sharp minor 7th flattened 5th chord (that's a mouthful!) , which for the home key of E minor of the quartet does not make a lot of harmonic sense. But by using enharmonic change the F-sharp to a G-flat, and the result is an A minor 6th chord. As A minor is the dominant chord in the key of E minor, it makes perfect sense. It would have been bad form for Saint-Saëns to use a G-flat as the time signature already states that all F's are sharp. There is a strong tendency for the dominant chord to lead to the tonic key, and so it does. After a few bars of the A minor introduction, the home key states a somewhat wistful theme that winds its way until the mutes come off and a more powerful section begins, skirts a few other keys in the process, and leads to a more mellow theme that is first stated by the cello and makes its way to the other instruments.  Themes eventually return in various guises, especially the more powerful one that leads to the end of the movement. 

II. Molto allegro quasi presto - Leave it to Saint-Saëns to call for music to be played molto allegro - very fast - quasi presto - sort of even faster. Perhaps he was concerned about excessive speed, and once the music begins it makes more sense. The movement is in 2/4 time, and has a metronome setting of quarter note = 184 beats per minute, a quite brisk tempo indeed, but taken any faster there would be the danger of the quirkiness of the syncopation being blurred. The first violin plays a simple theme that begins an eighth note before the accompaniment, and is tied across the bar line to the next bar. The other instruments play pizzicato.  After the first round of the theme, it is repeated in triplets. All 4 instruments join in the syncopation in a section that leads to the main theme once more, until a middle section in E major is reached. The tempo remains quick as a 4-voiced fugue comprises the middle section. The syncopation returns and plays until there is a slight slowing of the tempo and the key changes for a short section in E major. After that, the syncopation returns, with all instruments playing pianissimo. The 1st violin joins the others pizzicato as the movement quietly ends.

III. Molto adagio - The next movement in A Major gives contrast by its calm sweetness, but this movement also has a section marked appassionato. The 1st violin has the most to say, and the movement ends in harmonics high in the range of all 4 instruments.

IV.  Allegro non troppo - The music returns to E minor and restlessness, somewhat in the vein of the 2nd movement, but not nearly so relentless. There is plenty of tension as different rhythms are explored, as once again the 1st violin takes the lead in virtuosity as in the third movement and other parts of the quartet. Saint-Saëns probably had Ysaÿe the dedicatee in mind, for he was one of the premiere virtuoso violinists of the time, and he not only wanted to give him something to show his abilities with, but his own capabilities of violin writing as well. The movement builds to the final section marked Molto allegro as the quartet comes to a passionate close.

Saint-Saëns

Saint-Saëns - Symphony No. 3, "Organ"

Camille Saint-Saëns music has been accused of many faults. Superficiality, emotionally detached, conservative, and other words have been used to describe the music of Camille Saint-Saëns  There are reasons for such harsh criticism of the man and his music, despite his incredible musicianship and craftsmanship. As a direct opposite to his perfection in the craft of his art, his private life was less than orderly, which in his later years had a profound effect on his personality and dealings with his fellow composers.

His father died when he was a baby and he was raised by his mother and aunt. Thus he became very attached to his mother, who was a profound influence, perhaps to the point of dominating him and turning him into a Momma's boy. Saint-Saëns was a bachelor until his was nearly 40 years old, and despite his mother's objections, married a woman twenty years younger than himself. The couple had no honeymoon and directly moved into the apartment that Saint-Saëns shared with his mother.  The couple had two boys, both of whom died very young. The older child fell out of a window to his death and the younger one died only six weeks later from pneumonia.  These tragedies set an already rocky marriage on a downhill slide. Saint-Saëns was influenced by his mother (who loathed her daughter in law), and  blamed his wife for the death of both children.

A few years later the couple were on vacation in the summer of 1881, and with no warning Saint-Saëns left the hotel they were staying in. A legal separation was quickly obtained and he never saw his wife again.  The death of his mother in 1888 came close to driving him to suicide. He could no longer remain in the apartment he shared with her and began a life of wandering around the world. His personality also changed as he became cantankerous and overly critical of his fellow composers, especially the modern composers of the time such as Debussy. His musical output slowed and he became a very bitter, ultra-conservative musician. As a result of his misanthropy, opinions of him as a person and composer became just as nasty, a heritage that still taints his music, a heritage created by his own bitterness.

His Symphony No. 3 was composed on commission from the Royal Philharmonic Society of London. Saint-Saëns was a very popular composer in England, and he conducted the premiere of the work there in 1886. He also conducted the French premiere of the work in 1887.  His friend Franz Liszt died shortly after the premiere of the symphony, and Saint-Saëns dedicated the work to the memory of Liszt. A very appropriate dedication, for Saint-Saëns uses not only cyclical composing techniques in the work, but created a slightly different form for the symphony. The composer included the following description of his symphony in the program of the premiere:

This Symphony, divided into two parts, nevertheless includes practically the traditional four movements: the first, checked in development, serves as an introduction to the Adagio, and the scherzo is connected after the same manner with the finale. The composer has thus sought to shun in a certain measure the interminable repetitions which are more and more disappearing from instrumental music.

I. Adagio – Allegro moderato – As described by the composer, the symphony is in two parts with each part containing two of the usual movements of a symphony.  The first section is a slow introduction. The strings slowly and quietly begin and swell to a slight crescendo as the oboe enters. The movement proper begins (after string pizzicatos) with a nervous accompaniment in the strings. The main theme of the entire symphony is stuttering and anxious music, reminiscent of the first part of the ancient Dies Irae chant, a theme used by Berlioz and Liszt along with other composers. The second theme enters but is only less stuttering than the main theme and is akin to it.  Saint-Saëns uses Liszt's technique of theme transformation throught the first movement. Just as the development section is starting to change into the recapitulation, Saint-Saëns manipulated the music into a seamless segue into the second movement:

Poco adagio - As in the transition from introduction to first movement, the pizzicato strings bring forth the next movement. After this slow introduction the organ makes its first entrance with long held, slowly progressing low tones. The strings play a lyrical theme as the organ continues to accompany. The main theme returns in the pizzicato strings and slowly combines with the new theme. The combination reaches a climax, and the music reduces in volume as the main theme slowly vanishes as the movement ends with hushed tones in the organ and strings.

II. Allegro moderato – Presto - A new theme in the agitated rhythm of the first movement enters, and is followed by another variant of the main theme. The trio of this scherzo has another variant of the main theme and includes the piano in the mix. The scherzo is repeated, parts of the trio are repeated after which the music slowly leads to the first theme  that has shifted from C minor to C major and acts as a segue to the last movement:

Maestoso - Allegro -  A huge C major chord begins the last movement, the strings and organ alternate until the strings and piano (played 4 hands) transform the first theme in a rippling chorale. Saint-Saëns pulls out all the stops of the organ (and orchestra) in a repeat of the main theme chorale, after which a short fugue discusses the main theme in a different variation of it.  The main theme continues to grow and mutate throughout the movement until Saint-Saëns goes completely over the top with full orchestra and organ as the tempo increases and the music races to a grand ending.

Saint-Saëns was a master of the piano, as well as the organ (Liszt called him the best organist in the world) and orchestra. This symphony combines his mastery of instruments and instrumentation into one of the most popular symphonies ever written. The composer himself thought that this symphony was his last, as he said:

I gave everything to it I was able to give. What I have here accomplished, I will never achieve again.

There are of course listeners that don't like the 3rd Symphony, as with any piece of music. Music is a very personal thing after all. But from time to time the symphony still receives harsh criticism, perhaps left over from a tradition of throwing rotten eggs at Saint-Saëns because of what he became late in life.

 

Saint-Saëns - Piano Trio No. 2 In E Minor, Opus 92

Saint-Saëns is a composer accused by some of superficiality and glibness, but the second piano trio shows the criticism to be unjust.  Gone is the Mendelssohnian early romanticism of his earlier piano trio. The second trio was written in 1892, a time when Saint-Saëns was looked upon as an ultra-conservative, and as such his music was out of fashion and not played very much.  Nonetheless, he continued to compose and even experimented with different musical language.  He lived almost another thirty years after he wrote the second piano trio, and ended his composing career with sonatas for wind instruments (one each for clarinet, oboe, and bassoon) and a few piece for piano and voice, in 1921.

Piano Trio No. 2 is in 5 movements:

I. Allegro non troppo - The movement begins with a theme taken up by violin and cello as the piano plays an agitated accompaniment. A second theme is in E major. The development section expands the themes amid a general feeling of turmoil and passion. The themes return in the recapitulation, after which the agitation of the opening of the movement returns in the coda and after a run from the piano a unique cadence ends the movement.

II. Allegretto - The beginning of the movement gives the impression that it is going to be one of Saint-Saëns' delicate trifles, as a tripping tune in E major and 5/8 time is played.  Contrasting sections in the minor show that the movement is not just gentle salon mood music. The piano has some particularly brilliant music in the contrasting sections. The opening theme has the final say in an emphatic close.

III. Andante con moto - Written in A-flat major, this movement has a lyrical theme that is the basis of the entire movement.

IV. Grazioso, poco allegro - A graceful movement that begins in G major with a waltz-like tune. There is a slight contrasting section, more like an intermezzo.  The interplay between the instruments begins again with the opening theme as the music slows down and ends.

V.  Allegro -  Two themes, the first in E minor and the next in E major, begin the movement. Material is treated contrapuntally on its own before the first theme is integrated into it. The second theme returns and leads to a very rapid version of the first theme and the ending chords.

 

Saint-Saëns - La Muse et le Poète, Opus 132

In 1907 a statue of Saint-Saëns was exhibited in the Paris Salon. An admirer of Saint-Saëns saw it, a Mme. J-Henry Carruette, (obviously a woman of means), and wanted to present it to the town of Dieppe. But there was an actual law at the time that strictly forbade a statue being erected to a living person. Mme Carutte (and no doubt others) worked some political magic, and the statue was allowed to be erected. The irascible Saint-Saëns was not impressed. He considered that he must be dead to have a statue erected, so therefore he didn't have to make a speech at the unveiling. 

When Mme. Carruette died in 1909, Saint-Saëns wrote a one-movement piano trio and dedicated it to her. Despite the objections of Saint-Saëns, his publisher insisted on giving the title The Muse And The Poet to the work. But Saint-Saëns obviously like the work, so he orchestrated it shortly afterwards, and that is the version that is played today. 

At the time, Saint-Saëns was bristling against the dominance of German formal music structures, so the piece has an improvisatory quality to it. Saint-Saëns grew more and more against German music, to the point of demanding that it should never be played in France during World War One. 

As much as Saint-Saëns disliked the title, it isn't inappropriate. The music begins in a somber tone with the orchestra, but when the violin enters, the mood brightens. The cello enters and things get gloomy again, but the violin keeps going and convinces the cello to brighten its mood too. The work is a difficult one for the soloists, but Saint-Saëns said it was a conversation between the two soloists instead of a debate between two virtuosos.  

Saint-Saëns - Mélodies Persanes, Opus 26

The French poet Armand Renaud was associated with the Parnassian Poets movement in France (although the movement was not restricted to France) that began with an anthology of poems byvarious French poets that was published in 1866. The movement was in reaction to Romanticism with the emphasis on craftsmanship and  a tightening up of form. The subject matter was often classical and exotic subjects, but as with any movement or school of artistic endeavors, the Parnassian poets shared a common artistic attitude rather than a rigid set of rules.

Camille Saint-Saëns used six poems from Renaud's Les Nuits Persanes (Persian Nights) and set them to music in 1870.  Saint-Saëns was a man of letters as well as a musician, so he was well acquainted with the Parnassian movement.  Saint-Saëns had a very wide interest in different historical and cultural traditions and throughout his career there is a peppering of music that was influenced by many different traditions. At the time Saint-Saëns composed these songs, he was 35 years old and an advocate of the new music of Liszt and Wagner. He was quite influential in French music in his early years, but he grew more and more conservative as he aged.

The songs in this set are well written and showcase Saint-Saëns' melodic talent. He did not use any authentic Persian themes, but he did try to create an exotic feeling to them. While all six are fine songs, the exotic influence can be difficult to hear.

1) La Brise (The Breeze)

This song is perhaps the most obviously Persian influenced in the set as the piano plays a dance rhythm. The first part of this song is in the Dorian mode in E, which also gives it an exotic flavor. Halfway through the music switched to E major and ends in that key. 

Like kid goats bitten by a horsefly

The beautiful girls of Zaboulistan dance.

Their nails are tinted a light pink;

No one can see them, apart from the sultan.

In the hands of each a sistrum sounds;

The turbaned eunuch stands with saber in hand.

But at the pale river where the lily lies sleeping,

The breeze grows like a pirate

that is going to steal their hearts and lips

under the jealous man’s eyes, despite the law.

O dreamer, be proud! The breeze has taken

your love poems for his talisman!



2) La Splendeur Vide (The Empty Splendor)
A beautiful song that modulates to different keys to good effect. 

In my soul I have built

A wonderful palace,

full of the smells of cinnamon,

Armand Renaud

full of reflecting images.

Sapphire, Amber, Emerald

Cover the pillars;

Quietly, there strides

familiar lions.

In the ivory cups,

on the deep pile carpets,

groups of Monarchs

are drinking white wine.

Isolated as an island,

the walls are steep,

and plunge into

a lake of silver.

Everything is motionless,

yet everything grows

and spreads like an oil stain

that deepens and shimmers.

But two things that delight

me are lacking:

There is not a sound, and

No color.

Oh! for a sound of lyre,

Oh! for the slightest color,

I would leave porphyry,

Fine pearls, and gold!

But the one that gives

cruel and soft love,

my crown forbids me

of harmony and color;

And the more everything shines and

everything becomes vast and nice,

I feel increased pain,

And the more I become a tomb.

3) La Solitaire (The Solitary One)

The piano imitates the object of the singer's affections as he rides a horse. 

O proud young man, o killer of gazelles,

Pale rider in light velvet,

On your horse whose hoofs have wings

Take me upwards with your love.

I have very often at night, on my terrace,

Shed my tears while holding you close.

Wasted effort! It is your shadow I embrace,

And my sobs, you do not hear them.

The sky made me warm and beautiful,

My soft lips are as a bright red fruit;

I have a song in my voice.

A ray of sun in my hair.

But locked and covered with veils

In a palace, I die far from the true good.

Why flowers and why stars,

If my heart beats and if you do not know it?

My beloved, your weapons are terrible,

Your long gun, spear, your dagger,

And most of all, your eyes dark charms

Piercing a heart with a glance.

O proud young man, o gazelle killer,

My fate is like their fate

On your horse whose feet have wings,

Include my sad heart to the bloody spoils.

4) Sabre en main (Saber In Hand)

The poem conveys the blood-thirsty wishes of the conqueror. While the accompaniment is appropriate enough, it doesn't convey an exotic atmosphere very much. 

I have bridled my horse

And put on his saddle of gold.

Through this barren world

We'll take flight.

My heart is cool, my gaze steady,

I love nothing and I fear nothing.

My sword grieves when in its sheath:

When drawn it strikes true!

With the turban wound about my head

And the white cloak on my back,

I wish to set out for the party

Where death screams and dances.

Where towns are put to the torch

While the people sleep at night,

Where the vile rabble think

We are glorious because we are strong.

I wish that kings, when they hear my name,

Would hold their head in their hands,

And that my saber would remove the brands

And the yokes of servitude.

I wish for the swarm of my tents,

My horses with flowing manes,

My bright banners

My pikes, my drums.

Without number, like a swarm

Of flies in summer,

So that the universe squirms and is

aware of how little it is worth!



5) Au cimetière (At The Cemetery)

As we sit on this white tomb

Let us open our hearts!

As night falls,

Marble’s spell conquers all.

As we murmur to each other,

The dead vibrate;

We shall pluck corollas

From the Sahara.

If he had, before his last hour,

The love of someone,

He will think of the past,

smell the fragrance and cry.

If he lived, without wanting

To share his heart,

He will say: I lost my life,

Without having loved.

My dear, you  shall jingle

Your gold ornaments,

So that desire takes wing

When birds fall asleep.

And without worrying,

For we only die in the end,

We say: Today roses,

Tomorrow cypress!



6) Tournoiement: Songe d'opium (Twirling: An Opium Song)

Saint-Saëns was a virtuoso on the piano and he kept up his technique his entire life. He was known to have a very clean and brilliant technique capable of very fleet and nimble playing which is reflected in the accompaniment to this opium-induced vision.

Without a pause,

On the tip of my big toe

I spin, I spin, I spin,

Like a dead leaf.

As at the moment one dies,

Earth, ocean, space,

Pass before my eyes,

Throwing out a glow.

As I spin around and around,

I go faster

Without pleasure as without anger,

Shivering, despite my sweat.

In the dens filled with foaming waves,

On inaccessible rocks,

I spin, I spin, I spin.

Without the slightest concern.

In forests, on the shores;

Among beasts

And their enemies,

Soldiers who go sword in hand,

Amid the slave markets,

The lands full of volcano lava,

With the Moguls and the Slavs,

I will not stop spinning.

Subject to the laws that ever govern,

The laws that the sun obeys,

I spin, I spin, I spin.

My feet are off the ground.

I go up to the night sky,

Before the silent moon,

In front of Jupiter and Saturn

I go with a hiss,

And I cross Capricorn

And I am in the abyss, the gloomy abyss,

The total and boundless night.

Saint-Saëns - Piano Concerto No. 4 In C Minor

 Saint-Saëns was the first major French composer to write a piano concerto, and he treats orchestra and piano as equals, with brilliance and originality. He was devoted to forms used in the past, but that did not stop him from experimenting. He revered the modern composers of his younger years while he grew more critical of the next generation as he got older. But for his contemporaries, he was somewhat of an innovator and known for his novelty, all within the French aesthetic of ‘good taste’. 

Of the five piano concertos, No. 2 in G minor is the only one that is solidly in the repertoire, with No. 4 having an occasional performance. Both concertos are innovative in form, with No. 4 being similar in form to Symphony No. 3. Musicologist Daniel M. Fallon has written a paper that goes in depth concerning  the 4^th piano concerto and its relation to early sketches for a symphony that was never written. The paper is free to download at the link and is titled:  The Genesis Of Saint-Saëns’ Piano ConcertoNo. 4. The abstract of the paper states:

Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No. 4 was based on an introduction to an unfinished symphony, which the 19-year-old composer wrote and then abandoned. Nearly every bar of the concerto evolves from this draft, providing a rare opportunity to understand Saint-Saëns' compositional craft.

I. Allegro moderato - Andante - This concerto consists of two main movements, with two distinct sections within each.  The movement begins with a chromatic theme in the strings that is soon taken up by the piano. This theme is traded off by piano and orchestra and builds in brilliance in the piano until the full orchestra repeats the theme forte.  The theme then moves into the woodwinds as the piano and pizzicato strings accompany.  Saint-Saëns shows his feeling for orchestral and pianistic color as it is essentially the same theme repeated throughout the first section, but he avoids monotony with his skill of orchestration. This section comes to a close and a bridge begins that announces the second section of the movement. 

The second section begins in the woodwinds that play a chorale theme with the piano accompanying with rapid scales. This theme is varied for the rest of the movement as the piano part becomes more florid until the music calms and begins a slow transition to the second movement.

II. Allegro vivace -  Andante -  Allegro -  The second movement begins with a return to the material that was used as a bridge for the first and second sections of the first movement. The first section of this movement serves as a scherzo. The first theme of the first movement reappears in the strings as the piano cavorts in triplets. The theme is varied until a new energetic theme appears and alternates with the initial theme. The bridge theme reappears, as the other two themes play off each other. The music flows into the Andante section in a reminiscence of the chorale theme of the first movement that receives a fugal treatment.  The chorale continues and slowly builds in volume and intensity, which leads to the final Allegro section.

This section’s theme is actually the chorale theme played in C major in ¾ time, and it is initially heard in single notes in the right hand of the piano with a pizzicato accompaniment.  The piano and orchestra alternate playing the theme and accompaniment as Saint-Saëns continues keeping the ear of the listener interested in the theme with subtle variations on it.  The piano glitters and combines with the orchestra to bring the concerto to a brilliant close.

Saint-Saëns - Piano Concerto No. 5 'Egyptian'

Camille Saint-Saëns was a child prodigy composing his first piece when 4 years old. At his first public recital at the age of 10 years old, he played Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 15, along with other pieces by Bach, Handel, Hummel and others. For an encore he offered to play any of the 32 Beethoven sonatas from memory. His precociousness did not end with music; for he learned how to read and write by the time he was three. He also studied and wrote about geology, acoustics, archeology, botany and many other scientific subjects as well as history.

 He once said of himself, "I produce music the way an apple tree produces apples." He was one of the most naturally gifted musicians that ever lived, and his seemingly easy facility for composing lead some to criticize his lack of feeling in some of his compositions. There is a natural virtuosity to a lot of his music, whether it is as lacking in emotion as some contend is a matter of taste.

 He wrote the 5th piano Concerto to commemorate his 50th anniversary of his debut in 1846. Saint-Saëns practiced diligently throughout his life to keep his keyboard technique in excellent condition, and remained a virtuoso on the piano and organ his entire life. He was the soloist in the premiere of the work on May 6, 1896.

 Allegro animato - Soft orchestral chords in the woodwinds with pizzicato accompaniment from the strings open the concerto, with the piano entering shortly after with the first theme. The strings take up the theme as the soloist plays a counter melody in the style of the pizzicato accompaniment. There was a 20-year span between the composition of Saint-Saëns’ 4th piano concerto and the 5th, but his elegance of expression and virtuosity remained intact as the piano ripples with scales and arpeggios as the first theme returns and is developed. The music works up to the transition to the second main theme, melancholy music that stands in contrast to the first theme.

 These two themes trade off appearances in the development section, with frequent changes of key. The first theme becomes more aggressive as it appears, while the second theme retains much of its melancholy mood. The first theme seems to reappear to begin the recapitulation, as the strings state it and the soloist plays scales and gentle figures. But is it the recapitulation, or is the development section continuing? Saint-Saëns doesn’t allow a formal return to the opening music, but melds the two themes into a continuing development until a coda appears that gives one more transfiguration of the second theme, and the initial theme then leads to a quiet ending of the movement.

 Andante - The opening of this movement, traditionally the slow section of a piano concerto, breaks with convention as the movement begins with a loud chord by the orchestra, with ensuing rhythmic motives played by the strings that are underpinned by chords from the brass. The piano plays exotic runs over this accompaniment until the piano joins with the woodwinds to move to a slower section dominated by the piano and strings. The soloist plays a simple melody in the extreme treble range of the keyboard that leads to a section labeled quasi recitativo.

 A flute joins in as the piano in gentle runs up and down the keyboard. The 1st violins and cellos gently take up the theme to an accompaniment by the other strings and the piano, with the section played at a whispering pianissimo. A Nubian boat song that the composer heard on his African trips is quoted as the section winds its way through this and other exotic tunes.

 The piano and strings combine in imitation of frogs, crickets, and other creatures heard during the hot and humid nights in Egypt, the 2nd violins and violas play sul ponticello very gently while the piano plays repeated notes in each hand that are labeled quasi cadenza.

 The piano plays in the extreme treble once again, after which gentle runs up the keyboard bring the movement back to where it started with the rhythmic violins answered by the soloist. The music ends with mysterious tremolos played by the strings as the piano slowly makes its way to the top of the keyboard and quietly brings one of Saint-Saëns most imaginative pieces of music to a close.

 Molto allegro - The shortest movement of the concerto begins with the piano rumbling deep in the bass, until the exuberant first theme rushes to the forefront. The piano goes up and down the keyboard while the orchestra supports it in the background. A second mellower theme emerges, and is passed from soloist to orchestra. Saint-Saëns again shows his virtuosity as a soloist in the rapid figures heard in the piano.

 The first theme returns (along with the rumbling in the bass) and is dramatically developed. Both themes return after a shortened development section, and the concerto ends with the entire orchestra playing a fortissimo coda.

Saint-Saëns - Organ Improvisations, Opus 150, No. 1

François Benoist was the professor of organ at the Conservatoire de Paris for fifty years and many of France's finest musicians studied with him, organists and composers such as César Franck and Camille Saint-Saëns to name only two.  He was a powerful influence, and was part of the training process to keep the Catholic churches of France stocked with trained organ players. It was the nature of church liturgy that created the tradition of organ improvisation in France, as Saint-Saëns said:

Formerly, Improvisation was the basis of organist`s talent; his virtuosity was slight – music written for organ with independent pedal was beyond his powers… It is improvisation alone that permits one to employ all the resources of a large instrument, and to adapt one´s self to the infinite variety of organs; only improvisation can follow the service perfectly, pieces written for this purpose being almost too short or too slow. Finally, the practice of improvisation frequently develops faculties of invention which, without it, would have remained latent.

Towards the latter half of the 19th century, France's musical life was in many ways centered around the new symphonic organs introduced by the organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. French organists and composers like Franck and Saint-Saëns worked with the builder to create an instrument that was symphonic in scope. The list of musicians trained on the organ in France is extensive, and includes some of the most well-known composers of the era.

Many young musicians made their living as church organists around France, as did Saint-Saëns. From 1853 to 1878 he played regularly in churches. He resigned in 1878, but never quit playing the instrument completely. He would visit his organist friends at their churches and take turns improvising with them.

Saint-Saëns wrote few works for solo organ, which underlines his thoughts on the instrument as mainly for improvisation or accompanying. The set of Seven Improvisations, opus 150 was written late in his career 1916-1917, as he was in bed recuperating from a bout of bronchitis.  The pieces look backward in their use of church modes and plainchant themes, standard fare for organ improvisation in France, but the first piece begins quietly with a whole tone scale in the pedals:

One of the most valuable innovations of Cavaillé-Coll organs was the swell device, a box surrounding the organ pipes that had shutters that could be opened and closed to control the volume of the sound coming from the organ. There was always a certain amount of control over volume with the organ before, but as the keyboard is not touch sensitive as the piano it was done by adding stops of pipes to the music line. Simply speaking, the more pipes engaged, the louder the sound. The swell device gave more control of volume and nuance, and directly lead to the symphonic school of organ playing and composition in France. This device is heard to good effect in this piece by Saint-Saëns.

Saint-Saëns kept up his organ and piano technique up until the very end of his life of 86 years. He himself played the premiere of the Seven Improvisations in 1917 when he was 82 years old.

Saint-Saëns - Rhapsody For Organ No. 3 From 'Three Rhapsodies On Folk Songs From Brittany', Opus 7

Camille Saint-Saëns was an example of the consummate musician as he was a performer, conductor, composer and musicologist. Music was not his only interest, as he also studied many areas of science such as archeology, botany and especially astronomy. He was keen on mathematics and literature as well.

His musical output included works for solo piano, piano and orchestra, symphonies, opera, and chamber music. He also composed music for the solo organ, but much of it is relatively unknown. It was as a professional organist that Saint-Saëns started his musical career when he was 18 years old in 1853 as church organist in Paris. He spent around 20 years in the service of the church, and then made his way as a freelance composer, performer on the piano and organ, and conductor.

Saint-Saëns held only one teaching position in his entire career, at the École de Musique Classique et Religieuse in Paris, a school that was founded to develop organists and musicians for the churches of France. He was the head of piano studies and remained at the school for 5 years. One of the students he taught there was Gabriel Fauré, and the two became life-long friends. Saint-Saëns and some of his other friends took Fauré along with them on a trip to Brittany in the north of France in 1866. While traveling to an ancient chapel in the area,  Saint-Saëns heard some folksongs of the region and used them as material in his Opus 7 work 3 Rhapsodies sur des cantiques bretons, Pélérinage au pardon de Sainte Anne-la-Palud.

The third rhapsody of the set is in three sections. The first section begins with a sad tune in A minor. The second section is a short musette tune first played on the reed stops of the organ. The next section begins with a more robust tune first heard in the pedals of the organ. This grows in intensity as it is repeated with more stops of the organ. The beginning tune then reappears, followed by a repeat of the musette tune.

Saint-Saëns - Violin Sonata No. 1 In D Minor, Opus 75

In 1884 Saint-Saëns went on a concert tour with the violinist Martin Marsick, and perhaps that was the inspiration for the composition of his first violin sonata.  Saint-Saëns had written sonatas for the instrument in his youth, but this is the first one of his maturity.  The sonata was dedicated to Marsick.

The work is in 4 movements, but Saint-Saëns pairs them up in 2 sections as he was later to do with the movements of his 3rd Symphony so that there is only one pause between the second and third movements.

I. Allegro agitato - The first movement is in sonata form, with the first theme being a restless of shifting meters between 6/8 and 9/8 time:

The second theme is more lyrical for contrast. The development puts the first theme through some added tension before the piano and violin have a dialogue in counterpoint. The second theme is also expanded upon by key changes but basically retains its form. The recapitulation adds even more restlessness and tension to the first theme.  The second theme returns with a light, effervescent accompaniment. The second movement begins without pause.

II. Adagio -  The second movement is a tender conversation between the two instruments. The violin has the melody in the beginning, but the roles are reversed a little later in the movement. Towards the end of the movement, the music becomes more decorated. The movement is all style and grace the moves with a sweet gentleness until it ends in the key it began in, E-flat major.

III. Allegro moderato -  This movement is a gentle scherzo in G minor. There is a feeling of the music being a little off balance due to the many subtle 5-bar phrases Saint-Saëns uses. In its own way, this movement is as gentle as the preceding adagio, and is a good contrast for the finale, which begins without pause.

IV. Allegro molto - Saint-Saëns had run-throughs of the sonata with two different violinists. The first had much trouble with the final movement, as did Marsick himself. But Marsick handled the difficulties as he and Saint-Saëns gave the premiere of the work after its publication. The metronome marking for the movement is quarter note = 168 beats per minute, with a flurry of sixteenth notes that makes the tempo even more difficult. Below are the first three lines of the violin part that in performance are over in a matter of a few seconds:

Saint-Saëns himself remarked to his publisher that it would be called “the hippogriffsonata”, because only a mythical creature would be able to master the final movement. Towards the end of the movement there is a brief return of the second theme of the first movement. It's not only the rapid sixteenth notes that are the difficulty of this movement. There are double and quadruple stops for the soloist as well as notes written in the extreme upper range of the violin. And the piano part is no easy task either. Saint-Saëns himself called this a 'concert sonata', and it became a popular work with violinists and pianists. The movement ends with a flourish in the key of D major.

Saint-Saëns - Sonata For Clarinet In E-flat Major, Opus 167

Camille Saint-Saëns was born in 1835 and during his life of 86 years (he died in 1921) he saw many changes in the world. He was a man of brilliant intellect, not only for music, but for the other arts and sciences as well. But music held a special place in his mind and heart, and with the coming of what was in his later years called 'modern music', he became a staunch defender of the classic forms and practices of music that were developed by Liszt and Wagner.

He lived so long that he became a living classic, and he suffered the derision of the younger generation of composers at the turn of the 20th century. He became a musical reactionary, and was publically vocal about his bitterness concerning young composers. He blasted Debussy's music and actively took part in  blocking Debussy's admission into the Institut de France:

We must at all costs bar the door of the Institut against a man capable of such atrocities; they should be put next to the cubist picture.

He also spewed venom in general at any composer of the modern school, and wrote in his book Musical Memories:

There is no longer any question of adding to the old rules new principles which are the natural expression of time and experience, but simply of casting aside all rules and every restraint. "Everyone ought to make his own rules. Music is free and unlimited in its liberty of expression. There are no perfect chords, dissonant chords or false chords. All aggregations of notes are legitimate." That is called, and they believe it, the development of taste.The man with a “developed taste” is not the one who knows how to get new and unexpected results by passing from one key to another, as the great Richard [Wagner] did in Die Meistersinger, but rather the man who abandons all keys and piles up dissonances which he neither introduces nor concludes and who, as a result, grunts his way through music as a pig through a flower garden.

Despite all of that, he was also revered for his artistry and contributions to French musical life. He maintained his piano technique all through his life and impressed members of the audience at a concert in 1921 where he displayed the precision and grace at the piano that he had cultivated many years before.

Saint-Saëns composed some forty works for various chamber ensembles, and during his last year of life he began a series of new compositions for solo wind instruments and piano. His original plan called for sonatas for flute, oboe, clarinet, cor anglais, and bassoon. He lived long enough to complete three of them; for bassoon, oboe , and clarinet. The sonata for clarinet and piano is cast in 4 short movements:

I. Allegretto - The chamber repertoire for clarinet is limited, and it is the same for the other instruments Saint-Saëns wrote for. He may have gotten the idea for the sonata series from a series of sonata planned by Debussy in 1915-1917. Debussy also completed but three of his sonatas (for cello, violin, and combination of flute/violin/harp. Both composers also took a look backwards to their earlier styles as well as adding some more modern elements to the sonatas. The first movement of this sonata begins with a gently rippling piano accompaniment and a quiet song for the clarinet. The movement is not in sonata form, nor are the other three, as Saint-Saëns uses the earlier forms of the Baroque suite. It is in a type of ternary form, although there is some variation along the way.  The mood is one of elegant ease as the opening material returns and closes out the first movement.

II. Allegro animato -  A gentle scherzo, this retains the elegant feeling of theo pening movement and is also in ternary form. The short middle section contains leaps of a twelfth before the opening material returns.

III. Lento - A very slow and lugubrious section in E-flat minor begins the movement as the piano matches the depth of the low notes of the clarinet. The lowest notes of the clarinet, called the chalumeau register, are noted for their distinctive sound. The volume rises until the clarinet goes silent as tghe piano plays rolled chords. After a short pause, the second half of the movement has both instruments playing higher notes at a softer dynamic until the piano arpeggiates until the beginning of the final movement that is played without a break.

IV. Molto allegro - Allegretto -  The most virtuosic movement of the sonata, the clarinet displays its agility with rapid runs. The music continues until a soft transition returns to an unchanged repeat of the opening of the sonata.

Saint-Saëns - Septet In E-flat Major Opus 65

Camille Saint-Saëns composed the Septet at the request of a chamber music society called La Trompette, and Saint-Saëns (perhaps tongue in cheek) included a part for trumpet in the work. The trumpet is not often thought of as an instrument to be used in chamber music, but Saint-Saëns added it along with two violins, viola, cello, double bass and piano. This rather odd combination of instruments is handled by Saint-Saëns with his characteristic fine craftsmanship as the bright tone of the trumpet does not dominate the work. Rather it is used for color and to punctuate the music.

Saint-Saëns was not only a great composer and performer, he was also a music historian and did much to revive the music of the past by editing and arranging modern editions of older composers, particularly French composers. The Septet was written in 1880 and takes the form of an 18th century suite of dances, music that he was very familiar with.  It is in 4 movements:

I. Préambule -  This was the first movement Saint-Saëns composed and it was originally meant to be a Christmas present to the music society and it was played at the January concert in 1880. Everyone was so pleased by the short work that Saint-Saëns promised to add more movements and complete the work. The finished work was first played in December of 1880 with Saint-Saëns at the keyboard. The movement begins with a flourish by the strings and piano, with the trumpet entering shortly. This changes to a section where a march-like theme is treated fugally. A calmer theme then is heard with a slightly restless accompaniment. The march returns and leads to the trills of the trumpet, the flourishes of the piano and the final chords of the movement.

II. Menuet - The trumpet takes the initial theme until the strings play a calmer second theme which the trumpet softly accentuates. The trio section is a masterful combining of the strings and trumpet over a piano accompaniment. The first section is repeated.

III. Intermède -  After two bars of introduction for piano and trumpet, the piano begins an accompaniment that continues through most of the movement while a somber theme is traded off between instruments.

IV. Gavotte et Final - The piano takes the lead in this dance that shows Saint-Saëns kept his piano technique (which was formidable). The theme is played over pizzicato strings. The trumpet enters with motives that sound like bugle calls that the strings take up. The gavotte returns until the piano and strings pick up the pace with a short fugue using material from the first movement. All the instruments join in a rush to the end.