Camille Saint-Saëns

[Florestan]

I don't consider the term 'profound' only applicable to the usual suspects.

I prefer to use the term in its adjectival guise. There is music which is profoundly sad, profoundly beautiful, profoundly cheerful, profoundly ugly a.s.o. Music which is said to be just profound is often profoundly boring (to me, of course).

[Christo]

Music which is said to be just profound is often profoundly boring (to me, of course).

Hear, hear! And it's true: there are people who keep adding to you, 'that's your opinion!' -- which genuinely amazes me every time: quite frankly, whom else's?? Even stronger: that response too cannot be anything other than that person's opinion bitings its own tail. 

[Florestan]

Here are three excerpts from Saint-Saens's short essay on Massenet. The points he make could be aptly applied to himself as well.

Others have spoken slightingly of his works and they have applied to him by transposing the words of the celebrated dictum: Saltavit et placuit. He sang and wept, so they sought to deprecate him as if there were something reprehensible in an artist's pleasing the public. This notion might seem to have some basis in view of the taste that is affected to-day—a predilection for all that is shocking and displeasing in all the arts, including poetry. Sorcières's epigram—the ugly is beautiful and the beautiful ugly—has become a programme. People are no longer content with merely admiring atrocities, they even speak with contempt of beauties hallowed by time and the admiration of centuries.

Another criticism is made against Massenet. He was superficial, they say, and lacked depth. Depth, as we know, is very much the fashion.

It is true that Massenet was not profound, but that is of little consequence. Just as there are many mansions in our Father's house, so there are many in Apollo's. Art is vast. The artist has a perfect right to descend to the nethermost depths and to enter into the inner secrets of the soul, but this right is not a duty.
...
All have their value and all are necessary. The rose with its fresh color and its perfume, is, in its way, as precious as the sturdy oak. Art has a place for artists of all kinds, and no one should flatter himself that he is the only one who is capable of covering the entire field of art.

Massenet's music has one great attraction for me and one that is rare in these days—it is gay. And gaiety is frowned upon in modern music. They criticize Haydn and Mozart for their gaiety, and turn away their faces in shame before the exuberant joyousness with which the Ninth Symphony comes to its triumphal close. Long live gloom! Hurrah for boredom! So say our young people. They may live to regret, too late, the lost hours which they might have spent in gaiety.

Amen!

[kyjo]

Every now and then I like to give Trois tableaux symphoniques d'après La Foi (from 1908) a spin, and given that I've been revisiting/exploring Saint-Saëns' works with orchestra recently, it was the perfect excuse to refresh my memory this time again. This simply is mesmerizingly beautiful. One can detect a particularly elaborate and sophisticated writing from his pen/imagination in this sublime music (and I don't want to sound exaggerated by calling it that way, it really lives up to the expectations, or at least I think that way). The first two tableaux feature ethereal and eloquent passages for the most part, where his skills for melody, harmony and orchestration are not in doubt. Interestingly, near the ending of the first tableau (around 11:04 mark) some brief traces of impressionism emerge to magical effect. The second tableau seems like evoking nocturnal soundscapes in places, with some moments of something I interpret like "of transcendent beauty", in which possibly my favorite section occurs: at 5:09 mark a melody of utter memorability bursts into which is first given to the woodwinds and then it is picked up by the strings. I find that section particularly remarkable and moving at once, the nature of it, for me, oscillates between well-being and wistfulness. The final tableau contains the music that has a more solemn, imposing and even ceremonial (to some extent) quality to it, ending with a blaze of glory.

Everyone is moved by music differently and some might not hear or feel the same as I do with this work, but for me, this poetic composition touchs a fiber, and needless to say that is one of my ultimate favorite pieces by Saint-Saëns, a composer that is often viewed like light or not very profound, but hey, not every composer has to be like the latter to impress greatly.

There's another recording on Hyperion, but I feel that this Erato (formerly on EMI) recording possesses a special aura.

I wish that labels like Bru Zane would record the whole work someday (soon) as it is incidental music in four acts.

Today I decided to check in on GMG after a particularly hectic and often difficult past few months, and what a lovely surprise to see that you've returned, Cesar! Welcome back, my friend! Your presence here will certainly compel me to contribute more frequently than I have been lately.

Regarding the work you so enticingly describe above, I must admit that, despite being an avid Saint-Saëns fan, I haven't heard it! It has immediately jumped straight to the top of my listening priorities.

[Symphonic Addict]

Today I decided to check in on GMG after a particularly hectic and often difficult past few months, and what a lovely surprise to see that you've returned, Cesar! Welcome back, my friend! Your presence here will certainly compel me to contribute more frequently than I have been lately.

Regarding the work you so enticingly describe above, I must admit that, despite being an avid Saint-Saëns fan, I haven't heard it! It has immediately jumped straight to the top of my listening priorities.

Thank you, Kyle! Much appreciated. I hope things are going well for you and that things are flowing more smoothly without so much stress. Looking forward to your contributions.

[kyjo]

Thank you, Kyle! Much appreciated. I hope things are going well for you and that things are flowing more smoothly without so much stress. Looking forward to your contributions.

Thank you so much, Cesar! My schedule is finally starting to lighten up a bit these days. Just a bit, though!

The other day I listened to the Trois tableaux symphoniques d'après La Foi and greatly enjoyed discovering a new (to me) major work by one of my favorite composers. It is, at around 32 minutes in length, the composer's most substantial non-symphonic orchestral work (unless we count the complete incidental music to La Foi which, as Cesar says, is still unrecorded). I decided to listen to the recent Hyperion recording by the Utah Symphony under Thierry Fischer - perhaps the Plasson performance is better, but I couldn't help but be persuaded by the beautiful Hyperion cover art:



Cesar was right to remark on some touches of impressionism that can be found in the first two tableaux - a style not typically associated with CSS. There are beautiful touches of orchestration throughout, and at least for the first two tableaux the emphasis is on atmosphere rather than the catchy melodies and motives that the composer is known for. The third tableau opens in a noble if somewhat academic fashion, but a few minutes in, a passionate, memorable melody in the dark key of G-sharp/A-flat minor appears in the strings - a sure highlight of the work for me.

[Symphonic Addict]

Thank you so much, Cesar! My schedule is finally starting to lighten up a bit these days. Just a bit, though!

The other day I listened to the Trois tableaux symphoniques d'après La Foi and greatly enjoyed discovering a new (to me) major work by one of my favorite composers. It is, at around 32 minutes in length, the composer's most substantial non-symphonic orchestral work (unless we count the complete incidental music to La Foi which, as Cesar says, is still unrecorded). I decided to listen to the recent Hyperion recording by the Utah Symphony under Thierry Fischer - perhaps the Plasson performance is better, but I couldn't help but be persuaded by the beautiful Hyperion cover art:



Cesar was right to remark on some touches of impressionism that can be found in the first two tableaux - a style not typically associated with CSS. There are beautiful touches of orchestration throughout, and at least for the first two tableaux the emphasis is on atmosphere rather than the catchy melodies and motives that the composer is known for. The third tableau opens in a noble if somewhat academic fashion, but a few minutes in, a passionate, memorable melody in the dark key of G-sharp/A-flat minor appears in the strings - a sure highlight of the work for me.

Great to read, Kyle! Glad you enjoyed it too. Saint-Saëns' soundworld never ceases to delight and elicit warm feelings.