Program Notes: Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony
Maurice Ravel’s La valse, poème chorégraphique:
World Premiere December 12, 1920; Paris, France (12 minutes)
- Maurice Ravel is usually described as a musical impressionist, meaning that his work focuses on mood and atmosphere.
- He was actually more classical in his handling of melody and form.
- The cultures of the Far East, Africa and Spain fascinated him.
- La valse was a commentary on the political and moral climate of early 1920s Vienna.
- The work is a tour de force for orchestra.
La valse began as a ballet score for the Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev, who approached Ravel in 1919 about a new collaboration. Seven years previously, Ravel had collaborated quite successfully with Diaghilev on the ballet Daphnis et Chloé, which is often called his greatest composition. This time, the composer had greater latitude in his choice of subject and took advantage of the opportunity to return to an idea that had captured his fancy as early as 1906. Ironically, Diaghilev rejected La valse. The incident caused a rift between the two men that was never mended. They only met again once before Diaghilev’s death in 1929. Ravel was able to secure an orchestral premiere in December 1920, and La valse has enjoyed great popularity since as an instrumental piece. Subtitled “choreographic poem,” La valse consists of 12 minutes of whirling rhythms and dynamics viewed through a kaleidoscope of orchestral colors. Essentially a giant, elongated crescendo, La valse is dynamically related to Boléro, though its tension builds in an altogether different fashion. A note in the score describes the piece: “Clouds whirl about. Occasionally, they part to allow a glimpse of waltzing couples. As they gradually lift, one can discern a gigantic hall, filled by a crowd of dancers in motion. The stage gradually brightens. The glow of the chandeliers breaks out fortissimo.”
Courtney Bryan’s Visual Rhythms:
World Premiere March 8, 2024; Jacksonville, Florida (20 minutes)
- Courtney Bryan was the recipient of a 2023 MacArthur “Genius” award.
- Bryan recently signed an exclusive contract with Boosey & Hawkes.
- She is currently the composer-in-residence with Opera Philadelphia.
- Bryan is the Albert and Linda Mintz Professor of Music at Tulane University in New Orleans.
- An accomplished pianist, she was a soloist last season with the LA Philharmonic New Music Group and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in her piano concerto House of Pianos.
Bryan is well known to Jacksonville Symphony audiences, having served as the Symphony’s Mary Carr Patton Composer-in-Residence from 2018 to 2020. She describes her previous commission for the Symphony, Bridges, as a tribute to the city of Jacksonville, its diverse communities and the bridges that bring them together. Bryan returns to Jacksonville this weekend with her latest orchestral work, Visual Rhythms. The piece is composed in 11 short vignettes, which each reflect on specific works of art from the personal collection of Robert O’Meally, the Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia, and founder of Columbia’s Center for Jazz Studies. This collection includes works by Norman Lewis, Romare Bearden, Alfred Smith, John Abbott, Frank Stewart, Herman Leonard and Petra Richtorová. Each work in the collection had a story behind why it was collected and what personal meaning it had. Bryan began composing reflections on the different works that she saw— some movements convey the general mood or impression of the artwork, and others are more literal in conveying elements, shapes and colors. Bryan was particularly drawn to the numerous Norman Lewis paintings in the collection and composed multiple vignettes inspired by his work that share similar harmonies and are spread out throughout the work, helping to anchor the larger work.
Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78, “Organ Symphony”
World Premiere May 19, 1886; London, England (36 minutes)
- Camille Saint-Saëns was a musical prodigy.
- By age 11, he had memorized all 32 of Ludwig van Beethoven’s piano sonatas.
- Hector Berlioz famously observed of him, “He lacks inexperience.”
- As an organist, Saint-Saëns was celebrated for his inventive improvisations.
- Though few of his operas are staged today, he composed operas throughout his life.
Pianist, composer and organist – Saint-Saëns was prodigiously gifted as all three. The work was commissioned by the London Philharmonic Society in conjunction with a piano solo appearance by Saint-Saëns. The English audience loved the new work, erupting into an uncharacteristic ovation. It is easy to understand their enthusiasm. This is music of immediate, poignant appeal that verges on but never descends to the sentimental. While organ gets top billing in this symphony, orchestral piano also has an unusual and significant role. Structurally, it is unusual, with two large halves each consisting of two parts. The work is cyclic, introducing material in the restless opening measures that recurs in transformation in various places throughout the symphony. Listen for the organ’s quieter moments, which will surprise you with their delicacy and subtlety. Especially in the symphony’s first half, those quieter passages reward attentive listening. The organ does not play a solo role but instead is integrated into the sonic fabric of the orchestra. That stated, you will definitely know when the organ joins the fray for Saint-Saëns’ triumphant finale!
La valse, poème choréographique
Maurice Ravel
Born March 7, 1875, in Ciboure, Basses-Pyrénées, France | Died December 28, 1937, in Paris, France
La valse began life as a ballet score for the Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev, who approached Ravel in 1919 about a new project. That year, he had written to his friend, critic Jean Marnold:
“It is not subtle — what I am undertaking at the moment. It is a Grande Valse, a sort of hommage to the memory of the Great Strauss, not Richard, the other — Johann. You know my intense sympathy for this admirable rhythm and that I hold la joie de vivre as expressed by the dance in far higher esteem than as by the Franckist puritanism.”
He called the new work Wien (Vienna) and never progressed beyond sketches. The project lay dormant until it was rejuvenated by Diaghilev’s formal commission in 1920. Ironically, Diaghilev rejected the score when he received Ravel’s manuscript, citing prohibitive production expense. The incident caused a rift between the two men that was never mended. They only met again once before Diaghilev’s death in 1929. Ravel was able to secure an orchestral premiere in December 1920, and La valse has enjoyed great popularity since as an instrumental piece.
Several of Ravel’s earlier compositions reflect his fascination with waltzes. Among the more intriguing ones are a piano piece from 1913 entitled “A la manière de Borodin” that mixes Russian style with the Viennese dance and the ever popular, more Schubertian Valses nobles et sentimentales (1912; versions for piano solo and for orchestra).
Subtitled “choreographic poem,” La valse consists of 12 minutes of whirling rhythms and dynamics viewed through a kaleidoscope of orchestral colors. A note in the score describes the scenario:
“Clouds whirl about. Occasionally, they part to allow a glimpse of waltzing couples. As they gradually lift, one can discern a gigantic hall, filled by a crowd of dancers in motion. The stage gradually brightens. The glow of the chandeliers breaks out fortissimo.”
Essentially an elongated giant crescendo, La valse is dynamically related to Boléro, though its tension builds in an altogether different fashion.
Instrumentation: Ravel scored La valse for a large orchestra comprising three flutes (third doubling piccolo), two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, triangle, Basque tambourine, cymbals, bass drum, castanets, tam-tam, tambourine, crotales, two harps and strings.
Visual Rhythms
Courtney Bryan
Born 1983 in New Orleans, Louisiana
For Visual Rhythms, which receives its premiere at these performances, Bryan has found inspiration in modern art. Visual Rhythms consists of 11 short vignettes, each of which reflects a specific artwork in the collection of Robert O’Meally, the Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English and Comparative Literature at New York’s Columbia University. Professor O’Meally is also the founder of Columbia’s Center for Jazz Studies and was one of Bryan’s professors when she pursued her doctorate in composition at Columbia. She has written:
“During a trip to New York City, I visited O’Meally’s art collection, which includes pieces by Norman Lewis, Romare Bearden, Alfred Smith, John Abbott, Frank Stewart, Herman Leonard and Petra Richtorova. I was inspired to write music inspired by the art. The movements of Visual Rhythms are as follows:
-
-
- Norman Lewis, Autumn Garden
- Romare Bearden, Circe
- Alfred Smith, visual rhythms
- Norman Lewis, red
- John Abbott, Sonny Rollins
- Frank Stewart, dancer
- Norman Lewis, black and white 1
- Norman Lewis, man sitting
- Herman Leonard, Billie Holiday
- Petra Richtorova, Chucho Valdés
- Norman Lewis, black and white 2
-
“While I was viewing the art, I was reminded of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Each piece here had a story behind why it was collected and what meaning it had. I began composing reflections on the different works that I saw there. Some movements convey the general mood or impression of the artwork, and others are more literal in conveying elements, shapes and colors.”
Bryan was particularly drawn to the numerous Norman Lewis paintings in the collection and composed multiple vignettes inspired by his work: the first and last segments and three in the middle. The Lewis segments share similar harmonies, helping to anchor the larger work.
“I was most excited about using a lot of instrumental color,” she adds, “doubling the winds to achieve a wide range of timbres and calling for different mutes for the brass.” She focused on writing for the Jacksonville Symphony’s impressive percussion section, highlighting parts for glockenspiel, marimba, xylophone and vibraphone.
Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78, “Organ Symphony”
Camille Saint-Saëns
Born October 9, 1835, in Paris, France | Died December 16, 1921, in Algiers, Algeria
Saint-Saëns enjoyed a rare luxury for composers: enormous success during his lifetime (Hector Berlioz famously observed of his younger colleague, “He knows everything, but he lacks inexperience”). Saint-Saëns’ music has suffered some of the “Mendelssohn syndrome,” from critics who claim that his inspiration slacked. They contend that a lack of obstacles and major crises in his lifetime prevented him from bringing his undeniable talent to fullest bloom. That assessment has undergone reassessment, and Saint-Saëns’ chamber music is appearing more frequently on concert programs, finding new enthusiasts.
The Symphony in C minor never relinquished those audiences. It found champions at its premiere and has remained steadily in favor ever since. Its success is all the more remarkable when one considers that it was his first symphony in 27 years.
Saint-Saëns took a number of structural and other liberties in this work. It consists of two large parts, each of which is subdivided into two sections played without pause. Thus, the whole is an adaptation of four-movement symphonic form. Another unconventional feature of the symphony is the inclusion of organ and piano in the scoring. The composer uses the organ to evoke the spirituality and reverence associated with church organs and to dramatize his musical conclusions with the sheer mass of sound an organ can produce with all its stops pulled. He uses the piano in the scherzo for punctuation, with rapid scales and arpeggios.
Liszt and Saint-Saëns: An Unlikely Friendship
The Symphony was composed when Saint-Saëns was 50. It bears a dedication to the memory of Franz Liszt, who had died in July 1886 at the age of 75. The two men had admired each other greatly, and Saint-Saëns knew he had lost a great ally outside France when Liszt died. He was otherwise embroiled in a major mid-life crisis: his children had died, and his marriage had failed. These factors may account for the frank emotional character of the Third Symphony. From a more strictly musical standpoint, Saint-Saëns’ inclusion of the important role for organ is likely an imitation of Liszt’s similar scoring in the symphonic poem Hunnenschlacht (1877).
English Commission
The work was commissioned by the London Philharmonic Society in conjunction with a piano solo appearance by Saint-Saëns. The English audience loved the new work, erupting into an uncharacteristic ovation. It is easy to understand their enthusiasm. This is music of immediate, poignant appeal that verges on but never descends to the sentimental. The opening string theme, which bears a passing resemblance to the Dies Irae chant, introduces much of the material that will recur later in the symphony. It has an agitated quality similar to the string background in Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony.
A Lisztian imprint is evident in Saint-Saëns’ adaptation of thematic transformation, which unifies the symphony. The familiar scherzo, opening part II, exudes a rough vigor that serves as an auditory appetizer for the no-holds-barred thrills of Saint-Saëns’ finale. The French critic Augé de Lassus described the climax “like Napoleon hurling in the Imperial Guard at Waterloo.” This triumphant conclusion falls clearly within the tradition established by Ludwig van Beethoven in his Fifth Symphony and continued by Johannes Brahms in his First Symphony, whereby victory prevails after a lengthy struggle. Such a progression, while familiar in Germany and Austria, was new to France. Saint-Saëns was an innovator in that respect as well.
A French Début for Program Notes
Seven months after the English premiere, Jules Garcin led the Conservatoire Orchestra in a performance of the Third Symphony in Paris, introducing the work to French audiences. The London program notes were translated for that performance, marking the first time that notes were provided to the audience in a French concert hall.
French Symphonic Tradition: A Work in Progress
When we think about symphonies, we don’t think of French composers right off the bat. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn and Beethoven come to mind. So do Brahms and Franz Schubert, perhaps Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann, definitely Anton Bruckner and Gustav Mahler. If we break away from the Austro-German symphonists, Antonín Dvořák, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Jean Sibelius and Dmitri Shostakovich get a good deal of exposure in our concert halls. These dozen composers probably account for 80% of the symphonies performed in any given season — and there’s not a Frenchman among them.
For centuries, opera has dominated French musical life. Instrumental music has had its proponents, however, and beginning with the works of François-Joseph Gossec (1734-1829), France has boasted a modest symphonic tradition of its own. While German influence dominated, it is worth noting that Beethoven thought highly of Étienne-Nicolas Méhul’s (1763-1817) symphonies. France’s first great 19th-century symphonist, Hector Berlioz, exerted a strong influence on his contemporaries in Germany, Austria and Russia. Ironically, his music remained largely misunderstood in his native land.
A concert series established by the conductor Jules-Étienne Pasdeloup in 1861 at Paris’ Cirque d’Hiver did much to bring instrumental music to a wider audience. Although Pasdeloup favored the Viennese symphonic classics, his introduction of Richard Wagner’s music had far-reaching impact on contemporary French composers. Pasdeloup’s series was continued by the conductors Charles Lamoureux and Édouard Colonne, who enabled some local composers to have their works performed.
During the 1880s, French composers (and Belgians who had settled in Paris) produced a rich harvest of symphonies, including a little-known Symphony in D minor by Gabriel Fauré (1884), Vincent d’Indy’s Symphonie sur un chant montagnard français (Symphony on a French Mountain Air, 1885), the Symphony in G minor by Édouard Lalo (1886), César Franck’s Symphony in D minor (1886-1888), Ernest Chausson’s Symphony in B-flat, Op. 20 (1889-1890) and of course the Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 (1886) that we hear at these performances.
These works have had uneven fates. The Franck and Saint-Saëns receive more performances than all the others combined and for similar reasons. Both pieces work recognizably within the symphonic tradition but impose bold structural ideas. Each adds a degree of chromaticism that shows an expanding harmonic palette. And both symphonies use principles of thematic transformation and development to provide a cyclic unity to a large structure. That stated, the Saint-Saëns is the more popular favorite, surely because of its gorgeous slow movement and splendid finale, both incorporating obbligato organ.
Origins of a Unique Name
The surname Saint-Saëns is surely one of the most problematic in all music. The family name dates to pre-medieval times, probably the sixth century A.D., and is a contraction and corruption of Sanctus Sidonius, Latin for St. Sidonius.
A native of Lyon, Apollinaris Sidonius (full name Caius Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius) lived from 430 to ca. 489 A.D. After serving as Senator and Roman Prefect in the Imperial Capital, he retired to Gaul. Eventually, he became a respected bishop in Clermont and sustained a reputation as a classical scholar, orator and poet. Apollinaris Sidonius remains an important example of late Roman Christianized classical culture. His unsuccessful leadership of the French against the invading Goths led to his subsequent canonization by the Catholic Church.
In the name’s modern guise, all three S’s are pronounced and the “Saint” takes the French pronunciation, with the “t” silent and the compound vowel more like “can’t” than “ain’t.” A rough approximation is “Sanh-Sahnz.” And Camille is a unisex name in France.
Instrumentation: the score calls for three flutes (third doubling piccolo), two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, triangle, bass drum, organ, piano and strings
Program Notes by Laurie Shulman ©2024