Scholarly Saint-Saens

Musical Times, Autumn 2002 by Simeone, Nigel

The longest part of the entry, 'Correspondence', runs to almost five pages and is consistently interesting; in this case the majority of letters are to and from the Philharmonic Society in London and Saint-Saens's publisher Durand. Here, as in so many other entries, the composer's letters to Durand can reveal a good deal about his working methods, his current thinking about a particular piece, his attitude to deadlines, his progress on a complex work, and so on. It is marvellous to have passages from so many of them printed here as part of the essential documentary fabric of this catalogue. The 'Literature' section spells Joseph Bennett's name incorrectly (Pride and prejudice-- like, he is given as Joseph Bennet'), but includes a number of valuable references to significant little-known secondary sources, some of which have been undeservedly overlooked until now

For Saint-Saens's most famous piece of all, Le carnaval des animaux, Ratner provides a wealth of important material which is not readily found elsewhere. After incipits of all the movements, there is a more detailed account of the composition date than that provided for the Third Symphony, and exhaustive information about manuscripts and printed editions (the arrangements of `The Swan' including curiosities such as those for two mandolins and piano, by Cottin in 1884; and an adaptation including poetry by Sully Prodhomme published in 1907). But perhaps the most fascinating part of this entry is a wonderful list of private performances given during Saint-Saens's lifetime - not only the famous ones from 1886 (including the concert attended by the aging Liszt at Pauline Viardot's house). As Ratner reveals, the work continued to be played as a special treat at the mardi-gras concerts of La Trompette; it is delightful to discover that in 1897 and 1899 the cellist was the great Jules Delsart, and Paul Taffanel continued to play the flute part which he had created in 1886; by 1904 Alfred Cortot and Gabriel Pierne were the pianists, with Philippe Gaubert the flautist. Two years later, Alfredo Casella was one of the pianists - an apparently endless stream of talent. The 'Correspondence' section of this entry is one which emphasises Saint-Saens's vigorous resistance to any public performance of the work during his lifetime (apart from `The swan', which was published in 1887); it is thus all the more fascinating to see how often the work appeared on notable semi-private occasions, usually played by some of the best musicians in Paris. Faced with such absorbing and well-documented material as this, it seems churlish to criticise, but I wonder whether it would have been helpful to have told the reader something about La Trompette here? Bonnerot (pp.100-01) has a useful little potted history of this remarkable chamber music society and a summary of this does indeed appear in Ratner's catalogue, in the entry for the Septuor op.65 (on p.174), which was dedicated to La Trompette's founder, Emile Lemoine. A cross-reference from the entry on Le carnaval to this note would have been welcome, and would have saved a good deal of time using the index to track down this information. Quite heavy road-testing of the main index confirms it as a very useful tool in making the most effective use of the catalogue.