Camille Saint-Saëns and His World

442 Pages·2012·4.182 MB·English

by  Jann Pasler (editor)

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CAMILLE SAINT SAËNS AND HIS WORLD
OTHER PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS VOLUMES PUBLISHED
IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE BARD MUSIC FESTIVAL
Brahms and His World Mahler and His World
edited by Walter Frisch (1990) edited by Karen Painter (2002)
Mendelssohn and His World Janáˇcek and His World
edited by R. Larry Todd (1991) edited by Michael Beckerman (2003)
Richard Strauss and His World Shostakovich and His World
edited by Bryan Gilliam (1992) edited by Laurel E. Fay (2004)
Dvoˇrák and His World Aaron Copland and His World
edited by Michael Beckerman (1993) edited by Carol J.Oja and
Judith Tick (2005)
Schumann and His World
edited by R. Larry Todd (1994) Franz Liszt and His World
edited by Christopher H. Gibbs
Bartók and His World and Dana Gooley (2006)
edited by Peter Laki (1995)
Edward Elgar and His World
Charles Ives and His World edited by Byron Adams (2007)
edited by J. Peter Burkholder (1996)
Prokofiev and His World
Haydn and His World edited by Simon Morrison (2008)
edited by Elaine R. Sisman (1997)
Brahms and His World (revised edition)
Tchaikovsky and His World edited by Walter Frisch and
edited by Leslie Kearney (1998) Kevin C. Karnes (2009)
Schoenberg and His World Richard Wagner and His World
edited by Walter Frisch (1999) edited by Thomas S. Grey (2009)
Beethoven and His World Alban Berg and His World
edited by Scott Burnham and edited by Christopher Hailey (2010)
Michael P. Steinberg (2000)
Jean Sibelius and His World
Debussy and His World edited by Daniel M. Grimley (2011)
edited by Jane F. Fulcher (2001)
CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS
AND HIS WORLD
EDITED BY
JANN PASLER
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON AND OXFORD
Copyright © 2012 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press,
6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW
press.princeton.edu
All Rights Reserved
For permissions information, see pages viii–ix
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012937254
ISBN: 978-0-691-15555-5 (cloth)
ISBN: 978-0-691-15556-2 (paperback)
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This publication has been produced by the Bard College Publications Office:
Ginger Shore, Director
Anita van de Ven, Cover design
Natalie Kelly, Design
Text edited by Paul De Angelis and Erin Clermont
Music typeset by Don Giller
This publication has been underwritten in part by grants from
Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund and
Helen and Roger Alcaly.
Printed on acid-free paper. (cid:39)
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Contents
Acknowledgments and Permissions viii
Introduction: Deconstructing Saint-Saëns xi
PARTI
SAINT-SAËNSTHEPERSON
Camille Saint-Saëns in (Semi-)Private 2
MITCHELLMORRIS
Saint-Saëns, The Playful 8
PAULVIARDOT
Inspired by the Skies? Saint-Saëns, Amateur Astronomer 12
LÉOHOUZIAUX
Changes on the Moon, Optical Illusions, The Stars 17
CAMILLESAINT-SAËNS
Business and Politics, with Humor: 26
Saint-Saëns and Auguste Durand
JANNPASLER
Rivals and Friends: Saint-Saëns, Massenet, and Thaïs 33
JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BRANGER
Massenet–Saint-Saëns Correspondence 40
CAMILLESAINT-SAËNS,JULESANDLOUISEMASSENET
Saint-Saëns and Lecocq: An Unwavering Friendship 48
YVESGÉRARD
PARTII
SAINT-SAËNSTHEMUSICIAN
Saint-Saëns and the Performer’s Prestige 56
DANAGOOLEY
Le Maˆitreand the “Strange Woman,” Marie Jaëll: 85
Two Virtuoso-Composers in Resonance
FLORENCELAUNAYANDJANNPASLER
Saint-Saëns’s Improvisations on the Organ (1862) 102
WILLIAMPETERSON
• v •
CONTENTS
Providing Direction for French Music: 109
Saint-Saëns and the Société Nationale
MICHAELSTRASSER
Saint-Saëns as President of the Société 118
des Compositeurs (1887–1891)
LAURESCHNAPPER
Saint-Saëns at the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire 125
de Paris (1903–1904)
D.KERNHOLOMAN
PARTIII
SAINT-SAËNSTHEGLOBETROTTER
Saint-Saëns: The Traveling Musician 134
STÉPHANELETEURÉ
Saint-Saëns in Germany 142
MICHAELSTEGEMANN
Saint-Saëns in England: His OrganSymphony 161
SABINATELLERRATNER
Analytical and Historical Programme for 167
His New Symphony in C Minor and Major
CAMILLESAINT-SAËNS
Saint-Saëns, “Algerian by Adoption” 173
JANNPASLER
Friendship and Music in Indochina 184
JANNPASLER
Saint-Saëns in New York 191
CAROLYNGUZSKI
Saint-Saëns and Latin America 201
CAROLA.HESS
PARTIV
SAINT-SAËNS,AESTHETICSPASTANDPRESENT
What’s in a Song? Saint-Saëns’s Mélodies 210
ANNEGRETFAUSER
Saint-Saëns and the Ancient World: From Africa to Greece 232
JANNPASLER
• vi •
Contents
Saint-Saëns, Writer 260
MAIRE-GABRIELLESORET
Saint-Saëns and Rameau’s Keyboard Music 266
KATHARINEELLIS
Preface, Rameau’s Pièces de Clavecin(Durand, 1895) 271
CAMILLESAINT-SAËNS
Lyres and Citharas of Antiquity 275
MARIE-GABRIELLESORET
Ancient Lyres and Citharas 280
CAMILLESAINT-SAËNS
Saint-Saëns and d’Indy in Dialogue 287
JANNPASLER
PARTV
SAINT-SAËNSINTHE20THCENTURY
Saint-Saëns’s Advocacy of Music Education in Elementary School 304
JANNPASLER
Report of M. Saint-Saëns 309
CAMILLESAINT-SAËNS
Saint-Saëns and the Future of Music 312
BYRONADAMSANDJANNPASLER
Musical Evolution 318
CAMILLESAINT-SAËNS
The Fox in the Henhouse, or Saint-Saëns at the SMI 324
MICHELDUCHESNEAU
Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Their Piano Concertos: 334
Sounding Out a Legacy
MICHAELJ. PURI
Saint-Saëns and Silent Film / Sound Film and Saint-Saëns 357
MARTINMARKS
Beyond the Conceits of the Avant-Garde: 370
Saint-Saëns, Romain Rolland, and the Musical Culture
of the Nineteenth Century
LEONBOTSTEIN
Index 405
Notes on the Contributors 420
(cid:129) vi (cid:129)
Acknowledgments and Permissions
My deep thanks go to the indefatigable and brilliant Leon Botstein for
taking on the challenge of such a controversial and complex composer;
Byron Adams and Christopher Gibbs for the foresight and tenacity to
make it happen; Irene Zedlacher, for her administrative support and end-
less good cheer; Paul De Angelis for his careful editing; Ginger Shore for
her art direction and help with the illustrations; Natalie Kelly for her book
design; the translators, especially Mark DeVoto; and Jill Rogers for her
conscientious research assistance.
I’m particularly grateful to Yves Gérard, Saint-Saëns’s biographer, for
his advice, enthusiastic support, and the two days we shared at the Saint-
Saëns archives in Dieppe. Sabina Ratner, editor of the thematic catalogue
of Saint-Saëns’s instrumental works, helped me to understand the com-
poser’s stature among musicians today. Timothy Flynn’s annotated
bibliography and recent biographies by Stephen Studd and Brian Rees
provided a firm foundation on which we have built. The staff at major
archives offered their generous assistance and permission to reproduce il-
lustrations, especially Sonia Popoff at the Médiathèque Musicale Mahler,
Paris, and Pierre Ickowicz at the Château-Musée de Dieppe. All copyright
holders and the works reproduced for which they granted us permission
are listed in the permissions section below.
Most of all, I would like to thank my co-authors, an international group
of experts from astronomy to film studies, performance to music history.
With their generous collaboration, I hope that, taken as a whole, these es-
says and “documents” will bring new understanding and appreciation to
Saint-Saëns and his music.
Permissions
The following copyright holders have graciously granted permission to
reprint or reproduce the following copyrighted material:
Gallica Bibliothèque numérique, Paris, for Figure 1 in “Inspired by
the Skies? Saint-Saëns, Amateur Astronomer” by Léo Houziaux.
• viii •
Acknowledgments and Permissions
Ville de Dieppe Collection, Château-Musée ©Ville de Dieppe, from
Lettres de compositeurs à Camille Saint-Saëns, ed. Eurydice Jousse and Yves
Gérard (Lyon: Symétrie 2009), for Figure 1 in “Rivals and Friends: Saint-
Saëns, Massenet, and Thaïs” by Jean-Christophe Branger.
Ville de Dieppe Collection, Château-Musée ©Ville de Dieppe, photog-
raphy by Jann Pasler, for Figure 2 in “Saint-Saëns’s Improvisations on
the Organ (1862)” by William Peterson.
Bibliothèque nationale, Département de musique, Paris, for Figure 1;
Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire de Strasbourg for Figure 2 in
“Providing Direction for French Music: Saint-Saëns and the Société
Nationale” by Michael Strasser.
Bibliothèque nationale, Département de musique, Paris, for Figure 1 in
“Saint-Saëns as President of the Société des Compositeurs (1887–1891)” by
Laure Schnapper.
Bibliothèque nationale, Département de musique, Paris, for Figure 1
in “Saint-Saëns at the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire de Paris
(1903–1904)” by D. Kern Holoman.
Ville de Dieppe Collection, Château-Musée ©Ville de Dieppe, photog-
raphy by Jann Pasler, for Figure 1 in “Saint-Saëns: The Traveling
Musician” by Stéphane Leteuré.
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, for Figure 1 as well as the
musical examples in the “Analytical and Historical Programme” in
“Saint-Saëns in England: His OrganSymphony” by Sabina Teller Ratner.
Ville de Dieppe Collection, Château-Musée ©Ville de Dieppe, photog-
raphy by Jann Pasler, for Figure 1 and Figure 2, Coll. Médiathèque
Musicale Mahler, Paris, for Figure 3 in “Saint-Saëns, ‘Algerian by
Adoption’” by Jann Pasler.
Ville de Dieppe Collection, Château-Musée ©Ville de Dieppe, photog-
raphy by Jann Pasler, for Figure 1 and Figure 2 in “Friendship and Music
in Indochina” by Jann Pasler.
Carnegie Hall, New York, for Figure 1 in “Saint-Saëns in New York”
by Carolyn Guzski.
Coll. Médiathèque Musicale Mahler, Paris, for Figure 1 in “Saint-
Saëns and Latin America” by Carol A. Hess.
Ville de Dieppe Collection, Château-Musée ©Ville de Dieppe, photog-
raphy by Jann Pasler, for Figure 1 and Figure 2 in “Saint-Saëns and the
Ancient World: From Africa to Greece” by Jann Pasler.
Ville de Dieppe Collection, Château-Musée ©Ville de Dieppe, photog-
raphy by Jann Pasler, for Figure 1 in “Saint-Saëns and Rameau’s
Keyboard Music” by Katherine Ellis.
• ix •
ACKNOWLEDGMENTSANDPERMISSIONS
Ville de Dieppe Collection, Château-Musée ©Ville de Dieppe, photog-
raphy by Jann Pasler, for Figure 1; The Art Archive at Art Resource, New
York, photography by Gianni Dagli Orti, for Figure 2 in “Lyres and
Citharas of Antiquity” by Marie-Gabrielle Soret.
Durand & Cie., ©1931, copyright renewed 1959, for Example 12,
Ravel’s Left Hand Concerto, in “Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Their Piano
Concertos,” by Michael J. Puri.
Photofest, Inc., New York, for Figure 1 and Figure 2 in “Saint-Saëns
and Silent Film/Sound Film and Saint-Saëns” by Martin Marks.
Cover Caption and Credit:
Photograph of a portrait of Camille Saint-Saëns, 1880, Ville de Dieppe
Collection, Château-Musée ©Ville de Dieppe.
The author and publishers have made every effort to trace holders of
copyright. They much regret if any inadvertent omissions have been
made.
• x •