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Camille Saint-Saens Symphony No. 3 "Organ"
 
 

Camille Saint-Saens was born in Paris in 1835. He began learning the piano at two and a half and displayed remarkable talents, memorizing all the beethoven piano sonatas by age 10. His friend Hector Berlioz remarked: 'He knows everything, but lacks inexperience.'Saint-Saens entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1848, studying organ with Benoist and composition with Halevy. In 1852, he became friends with Franz Liszt, who had a profound effect on his music. Liszt would later help Saint-Saens organize the premiere of Samson and Delila in Weimar, after the paris theaters rejected the work because of its biblical subject.

In 1886, Saint-Saens premiered his greatest symphony, Symphony No. 3 in C minor (the Organ symphony). Which was dedicated to Franz Liszt.

Melody:

Saint-Saens's melodies are always beautiful, and french in flavour. An example of this is the poco adagio section from the first movement of the third symphony.

click here ../adagio.vcd

 

Also, Symphony No. 3 has one re-occuring melody that ties the whole symphony together. Here are three differnt examples of this melody.

The first statment of the theme:  ../first.vcd

The second statment orcestrated into the basses:   ../second.vcd

The third statment is a mystical/heroic style theme:  ../third.vcd

 

Harmony:

Saint-Saens was one of the most skilled orchestrators of the 19th century. He had an instictive feel for orchestral colour and his textures are always clear and grandiose. The following example is one of the best examples of his talet as an orchestrator. His use of the clarinet, english horns and trombone to imitate the sound of the organ.

click here  ../harmony1.vcd
 

Form:

Saint-Saens had deep admiration for Ludvig von Beethoven, and his music reflects his devotion by sticking to a more classical style (Classicism) when it comes to form. Classicism is a term that is applied to any music (usually 19th century) which looks back to the principals of the classical period- balence, clarity, and proportion. Saint-Saens uses this idea for the form of Symphony No. 3.

What is it?- Symphony No. 3 is a symphony is two movements, but with a 4 movement feel. The classical symphony has 4 movements to it.
Symphony No. 3
Classical Symphony
I. Adagio
I. Allegro Moderato
II. Poco Adagio
      II. Allegro Moderato 
III. Presto
IV. Maestoso
 
*All of the movements in the right hand colume are in the Symphony No. 3 but are grouped together (I,II and III, IV) to form two movements in left hand colume.
As you can see from the chart above, Saint-Saens used some variation on the classical form to give the piece a unique style. In his music, there are often strange structures that are unexplainable. Another example of Saint-Saens borrowing from the classical period is in the Poco Adagio section from the first movement.
Form of Poco Adagio
Themes
Introduction
 ../intro.vcd 
A Section
 ../asection.vcd 
A1 Section
  ../a1section.vcd 
B Section
 ../bsection.vcd 
C Section
 ../csection.vcd 
D Section
 ../dsection.vcd 
A2 Section
  ../a2section.vcd 
E Section or Coda
  ../codasection.vcd 
 
*This form indicates that the Poco Adagio is a Rondo (One of Beethoven's widely used forms). In a Rondo you need at least two A sections, a B section, and a C section.

Expression:

Symphony No. 3 has many variation on the re-occuring theme in the final section of the second movement. These variations are quite contrasing as you can tell from the following examples.

Variation One:   ../third.vcd

Variation Two:  ../third1.vcd

        The CD Essential Classics: Saint-Saens by Sony Calssical
      is required to hear all of the audio links on this page!