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. Though it is frequently listed, even on record and CD covers, as a symphony for orchestra "and organ" the composer inscribed it as a symphony for orchestra "avec" ("with") organ, which is a more accurate way of describing it. This symphony was commissioned by the Royal 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, and many recordings break it in this way, it was actually written in two movements; Saint-Saëns intended a novel two-movement symphony. The composer did note in his own analysis of the symphony, however, that while it was cast in two movements, "the traditional four movement structure is maintained". 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 (two and four hands) and, of course, a pipe 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. This material is worked out in fairly classical sonata-allegro form, and gradually fades to a quieter mood, which becomes a slightly ominous series of plucked notes in cello and bass, ending on a G pitch, followed by a slow and soft sustained A flat note in the organ, resolving into the new key of D flat for the Poco Adagio section of the movement. This evolves as a beautiful dialouge between organ and strings, recalling the earlier main theme of the movement before the recapitulation. The movement ends in a quiet morendo. The second movement opens with an energetic strings melody, which gives way to a Presto version of the main theme, complete with extremely fast scale passages in the piano.
The Maestoso is introduced by a full C major chord in the organ. Piano four-hands is heard at the beginning with the strings, now playing the C major evolution of the original theme. The theme is then repeated in powerful organ chords, interspersed with brass fanfares. This well-known last movement is of considerable variety, including polyphonic writing and a brief pastoral interlude, replaced by a massive climax of the whole symphony. The lowest pedal notes of both the Poco Adagio and 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 stops (e.g. the Royal Albert Hall Organ), these notes are very dramatic, and 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 and the 1989 black comedy, How to Get Ahead in Advertising
[edit] External link
- Full score of this piece
