Camille Saint-Saëns and His World

Published by Princeton University Press 2012

Camille Saint-Saëns and His World

Edited by: Jann Pasler

Volume 32 in the series The Bard Music Festival

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400845101

Overview
Contents

About this book

A revealing look at French composer and virtuoso Camille Saint-Saëns

Camille Saint-Saëns—perhaps the foremost French musical figure of the late nineteenth century and a composer who wrote in nearly every musical genre, from opera and the symphony to film music—is now being rediscovered after a century of modernism overshadowed his earlier importance. In a wide-ranging and trenchant series of essays, articles, and documents, Camille Saint-Saëns and His World deconstructs the multiple realities behind the man and his music. Topics range from intimate glimpses of the private and playful Saint-Saëns, to the composer's interest in astronomy and republican politics, his performances of Mozart and Rameau over eight decades, and his extensive travels around the world. This collection also analyzes the role he played in various musical societies and his complicated relationship with such composers as Liszt, Massenet, Wagner, and Ravel. Featuring the best contemporary scholarship on this crucial, formative period in French music, Camille Saint-Saëns and His World restores the composer to his vital role as innovator and curator of Western music.

The contributors are Byron Adams, Leon Botstein, Jean-Christophe Branger, Michel Duchesneau, Katharine Ellis, Annegret Fauser, Yves Gérard, Dana Gooley, Carolyn Guzski, Carol Hess, D. Kern Holoman, Léo Houziaux, Florence Launay, Stéphane Leteuré, Martin Marks, Mitchell Morris, Jann Pasler, William Peterson, Michael Puri, Sabina Teller Ratner, Laure Schnapper, Marie-Gabrielle Soret, Michael Stegemann, and Michael Strasser.

Author / Editor information

Jann Pasler is professor of music at the University of California, San Diego. Her books include Writing through Music: Essays on Music, Culture, and Politics and Composing the Citizen: Music as Public Utility in Third Republic France.

Reviews

"[T]his book represents [quite an] achievement. Saint-Saëns 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

"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

"This compilation of masterful scholarship is likely to become a preeminent source for information on Saint-Saëns."

"This study of a versatile, tasteful and often endearing composer, and a serious, playful and sometimes prickly man, may be thoroughly recommended."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments and Permissions Publicly Available Download PDF	viii
Introduction: Deconstructing Saint-Saëns Jann Pasler Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
PART I SAINT-SAËNS THE PERSON
Saint-Saëns in (Semi-)Private Mitchell Morris Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Saint-Saëns, the Playful Paul Viardot Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	8
Inspired by the Skies? Saint-Saëns, Amateur Astronomer Léo Houziaux Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	12
Changes on the Moon Camille Saint-Saëns Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
Business and Politics, with Humor: Saint-Saëns and Auguste Durand Jann Pasler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	26
Rivals and Friends: Saint-Saëns, Massenet, and Thaïs Jean-Christophe Branger Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
Massenet–Saint-Saëns Correspondence Camille Saint-Saëns, Jules Massenet and Louise Massenet Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	40
Saint-Saëns and Lecocq: An Unwavering Friendship Yves Gérard Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	48
PART II SAINT-SAËNS THE MUSICIAN
Saint-Saëns and the Performer’s Prestige Dana Gooley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
Le Maître and the “Strange Woman,” Marie Jaëll: Two Virtuoso-Composers in Resonance Florence Launay and Jann Pasler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
Saint-Saëns’s Improvisations on the Organ (1862) William Peterson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	102
Providing Direction for French Music: Saint-Saëns and the Société Nationale Michael Strasser Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
Saint-Saëns as President of the Société des Compositeurs (1887–1891) Laure Schnapper Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	118
Saint-Saëns at the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris (1903–1904) D. Kern Holoman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
PART III SAINT-SAËNS THE GLOBETROTTER
Saint-Saëns: The Traveling Musician Stéphane Leteuré Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
Saint-Saëns in Germany Michael Stegemann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	142
Saint-Saëns in England: His Organ Symphony Sabina Teller Ratner Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
Analytical and Historical Programme for His New Symphony in C Minor and Major Camille Saint-Saëns Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
Saint-Saëns, “Algerian by Adoption” Jann Pasler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	173
Friendship and Music in Indochina Jann Pasler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	184
Saint-Saëns in New York Carolyn Guzski Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
Saint-Saëns and Latin America Carol A. Hess Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
PART IV SAINT-SAËNS, AESTHETICS PAST AND PRESENT
What’s in a Song? Camille Saint-Saëns’s Mélodies Annegret Fauser Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209
Saint-Saëns and the Ancient World: From Africa to Greece Jann Pasler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	232
Saint-Saëns, Writer Marie-Gabrielle Soret Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	260
Saint-Saëns and Rameau’s Keyboard Music Katharine Ellis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	266
Preface, Rameau’s Pièces de Clavecin (Durand, 1895) Camille Saint-Saëns Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	271
Lyres and Citharas of Antiquity Marie-Gabrielle Soret Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
Ancient Lyres and Citharas From La Revue de l’art ancien et moderne (1903) Camille Saint-Saëns Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	280
Saint-Saëns and d’Indy in Dialogue Jann Pasler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	287
PART V SAINT-SAËNS IN THE THE 20TH CENTURY
Saint-Saëns’s Advocacy of Music Education in Elementary School Jann Pasler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	303
Report of M. Saint-Saëns Camille Saint-Saëns Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	309
Saint-Saëns and the Future of Music Byron Adams and Jann Pasler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	312
Musical Evolution, From Le Ménestrel, 24 June 1906 Camille Saint-Saëns Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	318
The Fox in the Henhouse, or Saint-Saëns at the SMI Michel Duchesneau Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	324
Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Their Piano Concertos: Sounding Out a Legacy Michael J. Puri Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	334
Saint-Saëns and Silent Film / Sound Film and Saint-Saëns Martin Marks Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	357
Beyond the Conceits of the Avant-Garde: Saint-Saëns, Romain Rolland, and the Musical Culture of the Nineteenth Century Leon Botstein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	370
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	405
Notes on the Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	420