Description
Book SynopsisCamille Saint-Sans - perhaps the foremost French musical figure of the late nineteenth century and a composer who wrote in every musical genre, from opera and the symphony to film music - is now being rediscovered after a century of modernism overshadowed his importance. This book deconstructs the multiple realities behind the man and his music.
Trade Review"This study of a versatile, tasteful and often endearing composer, and a serious, playful and sometimes prickly man, may be thoroughly recommended."--Classical Music Magazine "This compilation of masterful scholarship is likely to become a preeminent source for information on Saint-Saens."--Choice "Jann Pasler's edited collection thus offers a significant contribution to Saint-Saens studies, and to the field of nineteenth- and early twentieth century French music as a whole."--Helen Abbott, French Studies "[T]his book represents [quite an] achievement. Saint-Saens is revealed and yet remains intensely private: the book speaks volumes on the composer's life, views, working methods, and cultural and social status."--Clair Rowden, H-France Review
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments and Permissions viii Introduction: Deconstructing Saint-Saens xi PART I SAINT-SAENS THE PERSON Camille Saint-Saens in (Semi-)Private 2 MITCHELL MORRIS Saint-Saens, The Playful 8 PAUL VIARDOT Inspired by the Skies? Saint-Saens, Amateur Astronomer 12 LEO HOUZIAUX Changes on the Moon, Optical Illusions, The Stars 17 CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS Business and Politics, with Humor: Saint-Saens and Auguste Durand 26 JANN PASLER Rivals and Friends: Saint-Saens, Massenet, and Thais 33 JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BRANGER Massenet-Saint-Saens Correspondence 40 CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS, JULES AND LOUISE MASSENET Saint-Saens and Lecocq: An Unwavering Friendship 48 YVES GERARD PART II SAINT-SAENS THE MUSICIAN Saint-Saens and the Performer's Prestige 56 DANA GOOLEY Le Ma'itre and the "Strange Woman," Marie Jaell: Two Virtuoso-Composers in Resonance 85 FLORENCE LAUNAY AND JANN PASLER Saint-Saens's Improvisations on the Organ (1862) 102 WILLIAM PETERSON Providing Direction for French Music: Saint-Saens and the Societe Nationale 109 MICHAEL STRASSER Saint-Saens as President of the Societe des Compositeurs (1887-1891) 118 LAURE SCHNAPPER Saint-Saens at the Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris (1903-1904) 125 D. KERN HOLOMAN PART III SAINT-SAENS THE GLOBETROTTER Saint-Saens: The Traveling Musician 134 STEPHANE LETEURE Saint-Saens in Germany 142 MICHAEL STEGEMANN Saint-Saens in England: His Organ Symphony 161 SABINA TELLER RATNER Analytical and Historical Programme for His New Symphony in C Minor and Major 167 CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS Saint-Saens, "Algerian by Adoption" 173 JANN PASLER Friendship and Music in Indochina 184 JANN PASLER Saint-Saens in New York 191 CAROLYN GUZSKI Saint-Saens and Latin America 201 CAROL A. HESS PART IV SAINT-SAENS, AESTHETICS PAST AND PRESENT What's in a Song? Saint-Saens's Melodies 210 ANNEGRET FAUSER Saint-Saens and the Ancient World: From Africa to Greece 232 JANN PASLER Saint-Saens, Writer 260 MAIRE-GABRIELLE SORET Saint-Saens and Rameau's Keyboard Music 266 KATHARINE ELLIS Preface, Rameau's Pieces de Clavecin (Durand, 1895) 271 CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS Lyres and Citharas of Antiquity 275 MARIE-GABRIELLE SORET Ancient Lyres and Citharas 280 CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS Saint-Saens and d'Indy in Dialogue 287 JANN PASLER PART V SAINT-SAENS IN THE 20TH CENTURY Saint-Saens's Advocacy of Music Education in Elementary School 304 JANN PASLER Report of M. Saint-Saens 309 CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS Saint-Saens and the Future of Music 312 BYRON ADAMS AND JANN PASLER Musical Evolution 318 CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS The Fox in the Henhouse, or Saint-Saens at the SMI 324 MICHEL DUCHESNEAU Saint-Saens, Ravel, and Their Piano Concertos: Sounding Out a Legacy 334 MICHAEL J. PURI Saint-Saens and Silent Film / Sound Film and Saint-Saens 357 MARTIN MARKS Beyond the Conceits of the Avant-Garde: Saint-Saens, Romain Rolland, and the Musical Culture of the Nineteenth Century 370 LEON BOTSTEIN Index 405 Notes on the Contributors 419
