Symphony No. 3 (Saint-Saëns)
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The Symphony No. 3 in C minor Op. 78 was completed by Camille Saint-Saëns in 1886 at what was probably the artistic zenith of his career. It is also popularly known as the "Organ Symphony", even though it is not a true symphony for organ, but simply an orchestral symphony where only 2 sections out of 4 use the pipe organ. This symphony was commissioned by the Philharmonic Society in England, and the first performance was given in London, conducted by the composer.
Of composing the work Saint-Saëns said that he had "given everything to it I was able to give." The composer seemed to know it would be his last attempt at the symphonic form, and he wrote the work almost as a type of "history" of his own career: Virtuoso piano passages, brilliant orchestral writing, and the sound of a cathedral-sized pipe organ. The work was dedicated to Saint-Saëns's friend Franz Liszt, who had died that year, two months after the symphony was first performed. One of the most outstanding and original features of the piece is the ingenious use of keyboard instruments: Piano scored for both two and four hands at various places and an organ. Although this symphony seems to follow the normal four-movement structure, it can be reduced to two large sections consisting of the first and second movements together and the third and the fourth together, since these pairs essentially function as unified movements; Saint-Saëns intended a novel two-movement symphony. The symphony also makes innovative use of cyclic thematic material. Saint-Saëns adapted Liszt's theories of thematic development, so that the subjects evolve throughout the duration of the symphony. The symphony usually lasts for about 35 minutes, no longer than 40 minutes.
The symphony is scored for a standard symphony orchestra comprising 3 flutes (1 doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, cymbals, a bass drum, strings (2 violin parts, violas, cellos, double basses), piano (four hands) and, of course, a solo organ.
[edit] Movements and Descriptions
The first movement, after a slow introduction, leads to a theme of Mendelssohnian character, followed by a second subject of a gentler cast. The organ introduces the slow theme of the Adagio of sadder complexion, in which the cyclic theme recurs.
The second movement opens with an energetic strings melody. Later the brass section and a piano also take part in this movement. The Maestoso is started by the organ, again as the Adagio, introducing an orchestral fugato. Piano four-hands is heard at the beginning with the strings. This well-known last movement is of considerable variety, including a chorale, polyphonic writing and a brief pastoral interlude, replaced by a massive climax of the whole symphony. The lowest pedal notes of the Maestoso, played on the organ, are of almost inaudibly low frequency. When experienced live in a concert hall equipped with a large concert organ with 32-foot pedal reed stops (e.g. the Royal Albert Hall Organ), these notes are very dramatic, very loud and are a deeply impressive audio experience.
Often the two movements are split into four tracks on CD.
The main theme of the Maestoso was later adapted and used in the 1977 pop-song "If I Had Words" by Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley. The Maestoso movement has been used in the French exhibit at Epcot in Disney World. The song and the symphony can also be heard in the 1995 family film Babe.
[edit] External link
- Full score of this piece
