Camille Saint-Saëns: Wagner and French Music Author(S): G

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Camille Saint-Saëns: Wagner and French Music Author(s): G. Jean-Aubry Source: The Musical Times, Vol. 58, No. 887 (Jan. 1, 1917), pp. 13-16 Published by: Musical Times Publications Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/909483 Accessed: 08-12-2015 16:20 UTC

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This content downloaded from 132.174.255.116 on Tue, 08 Dec 2015 16:20:07 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE MUSICAL TIMES.-JANUARY I, 1917. 13

After these have been twice repeated the Concerto whilstothers may feel inclined to assert that Prokofiev enters upon its third part, which is built on these four begins here to show traces of a study of Scriabin, motives : a composer for whose works Liadov had not yet Ex. 6. succeeded in overcoming his aversion. (a) Taking it all round this firstConcerto is neither the - b) ------.. - work of a student nor thatof a fully-developedgenius ; d- it is one, rather,of very great promise, and to judge by what has been written both about the second Concerto and the recent orchestral works, Prokofiev (c) d) is fulfillingthat promise and is capable of a much _ -- .(__ =- nobler mission than mere ear-tweaking. That was an ill-chosen expression, for genius is rarely guilty of deliberatelyannoying the pedagogue : the formergoes - his way as a rule unconcernedly and, grasping a -- barrier which he sees lying across his path, uncon- 7iO sciously grips that part of the latter's anatomy which -no40- adheres to the barrier; the pedagogue squeals, and on regaining coherent speech describes the newly- The instead of to a opened and unfamiliar path as being ugly in the concluding section, working up extreme. He has to about the point suggesting the limit of the exposition, unexpect- something, too, say modulates into D flat and returns to the genius. edly major Since reference has been made to theme of the Introduction, out the orchestra occasionally given by Russian it be well to conclude this beneath contrapuntal octave-playing on the motive d. opinion, may The treatment of the theme concludes sketch of the Concerto by quoting some remarks introductory which to have been written a fellow- with a pedal, undergoing a rhythmicaugmentation appear by which terminates in a after composer of great distinction.* He begins by referring general pause, which, to the work as been times to into a section, comes the having many performed, prior entry development and with success. A certain harsh Andante assai in G sharp minor, to which reference unvarying has been made. It has two themes: brilliance, he says, is emphasised by the contrast already on the one the somewhat reserved -- afforded, hand, by - and austere E minortheme, Ex. 5a, and on the other by _ the tender of the Andante; but this brilliance, Ex. 7._ JP 00 lyricism he declares, is undoubtedly the characteristic note of pp the Concerto. He refersalso to an alleged superfluity of thematic substance. He admits that for a one- Ex.8. movement work the material is abundant, but protests n -ii---t that as the composer's musical thoughtsflow here like - -t - a stream of lava, the reproach can hardly be justified. 93 And would a paucity of themes,he asks, be preferable? Can we complain of a work in which, together with The first is uttered by muted strings, the solo- instrument it alone with modified harmonies this abundance of themes and the use in the recapitu- repeats lation of details from the development section, the and floridcontrapuntal ornamentation, and then again music preserves a character of exceeding clearness, to the accompaniment of orchestral imitations, of and never gives an impression of undue length ? We which muted trumpetsand horns are given a share. incline rather, he says, to the contrary opinion, and The pianoforte now states the second of the two declares his belief that Prokofiev's Concerto is a Andante themes, the first making episodic appear- work, and one of the most original of ances both in the and highly original solo part the accompaniment. concertos; the more so that whilst The Andante ends with a brief transitional pianoforte being passage a work in which virtuosity had of course to be which leads to a short development, Allegro considered, it leaves little to be desired when scherzando; in it the themes Ex. 6c and Ex. 2 are estimated as pure music. answered by Ex. 5a with instrumentationas before; the development section ends with Ex. 3 entrusted to and horns. rumpets CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS: WAGNER AND The fairly long Cadenza, based on Exx. 3 and 4, constitutes the beginning of the recapitulation and FRENCH MUSIC. leads to a repetitionof Ex. 5a in C sharp minor given BY G. JEAN-AUBRY. now to trombones and references to accompanied by I have read with much interest and still more Ex. 6b and 2 on the The Ex. pianoforte. concluding Mr. Herman Klein's article on 'German section, like the resorts to the D flat theme surprise exposition, Music in France; and Richard Wagner,' of the Introduction (Ex. which, played by the full Saint-Satins I) that appeared in the September number of the orchestra-the pianofortecrashing out repeated peals double the Concerto to its Musical Times. As the author of 'La Musique of octaves-brings and more of its conclusion. Frangaise d'Aujourd'hui,' particularly firstchapter, entitled 'Musique Frangaise et musique Emphasis has been laid upon the circumstance Allemande,' I think I may claim a right to view the that this work does not reveal to us that strangeness has which has made of Prokofiev a much-discussed com- question raised in 'a fairer light than Mr. Klein been able to do. He does not live in France, and Yet there are moments in as even in the poser. it, he has examined the situation only according to Suite, Op. 12, for the same instrument,that while affirmations. no of their emanated from Saint-Satns's arousing suggestion having Saint-Satns's utterances,or showing a desire to shock the musical are Beforediscussing middle-class, their extreme I assert that his The firsttheme of the Andante character, confidently undeniably original. on the musical duties of the French public does not strike one as opinion being startinglyindividual; does not reflecta general feeling but merely that of a some may consider it to have been possibly the out- ' come of association with Liadov, a Chopin-lover, *A review signed N. M.'

This content downloaded from 132.174.255.116 on Tue, 08 Dec 2015 16:20:07 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 14 THE MUSICAL TIMES.-JANUARY I, 1917. comparatively few people, mostly unacquainted with Even people who say that they had felt but little music. Far from approving Saint-Saans's ideas, the interest in modern French music were moved by French musical world has almost unanimously con- curiosity, and on all sides there arose a desire to demned their exaggeration ; and fromthe publication extol French musical glories. Those who, like the of his very firstarticles a fiery campaign was led by present writer, had made this desire the aim of some of the most skilled critics,such as Jean Marnold, continuous action begun many years before, derived of the Mfercure de France, and Emile Vuillermoz, fromthis propaganda a new encouragement. The task of the ' S.I.M. Review,' which was supported by many was all the easier because war broke out at a time protestations of artists of diverse schools. when German music, in spite of Richard Strauss, In their criticisms Saint-Saens's is not Humperdinck, and Schoenberg, bore witness to personality and it could not rival the concerned : we all feel nothing but sympathywith and unquestionable decay, forthe of'Samson and unique and varied resources displayed by C6sar great respect composer Delilah,' Gabriel Claude and Maurice the 'Symphonie avec orgue,' the 'Rouet d'Omphale,' Franck, Faure, Debussy, and much symphonical and other music, all of which Rave]. shows an an amiable and Saint-Sains followed a different direction; he ingenious mind, sensibility, thundered and meantime did a lively intelligence: but a great composer is not against Wagner, nothing a shrewd or a faithfulhistorian. whatever for the French music of to-day. necessarily psychologist It is indeed that in his articles Saint- It is felt that Saint-Sains's strong peculiar personality urges Saens should not to the him to consider the situation rather too subjectively. always appear suspect existence of the prodigious French musical movement At the of the when in the Echo de beginning war, of which we are all aware in England as well as in Paris he wrote in which he and most articles openly France. You may read through his articles or turn rose Richard the nervous desperately against Wagner, over the pages of his 'Germanophilie' and you will to understand-in which the state-easy enough find nowhere the slightest allusion to Gabriel Faur6 events then left us excused to a terrible unfoldinghad or Claude Debussy, the two most representative certain extent his virulence and want of moderation ; figures of French music, but whom Saint-Sains even nevertheless, then we should have preferred cannot really ignore, since the former was once more and nobleness. dignity his pupil at the Niedermeyer Institute and the latter, But two years had gone by, and Saint-Saens had in the early years of his career, transcribed several of been, or at least might have been, able to realise the Saint-Sains's works. lamentable effectproduced in France and in the Allied Even leaving out these two great artists, whose and Neutral countries by his writings. However, he genius is as much an honour to French music as is thoughtit advisable to collect them in one littlebooklet that of Saint-Sains, we all his in vain ' peruse writings with the title Germanophilie.' It is a pitythat he was to find so much as the names of recent composers so indulgent to these articles, and that people round such as Lalo, Chabrier, Ernest Chausson, or even him flattered his work, the sole effect of which has Cesar Franck. been to dig a deep trenchbetween the author and the But Saint-Sains's curiosityis too lively and his mind present generation as well as generations to come. too pliant for him not to be acquainted with these The absence of allusion to We have to recognise and deplore that this attitude prominentcomposers. any them must have froma firm is the same as that adopted long ago by Saint- proceeded determination on to them. Sains towards modern French music. During the Saint-Saens's part ignore last forty years, whilst the most admirable musical I have read his articles and 'Germanophilie' over and over and the names of French com- development ever known since the century again, only I6th he was taking place, Saint-Saens assumed more and posers mentions are Auber, Gounod, Berlioz, Bizet, Ambroise and- more a frowningcountenance, and was either clearly F6licien David, Massenet, Thomas, ! And he Auber's name to hostile or simply indifferent towards younger Meyerbeer quotes only add musicians. Had we not caught some echoes of his : talk or remembered a certain eloquent preface to Gounod'smerit was to restorein our country,and to his 'Souvenirs' (Lafitte & Co.) which showed his enrich,the finedeclamation of bygonedays, as well as lack of sympathy with his younger rivals, it might the respectfor prosody,both so much neglectedby have been revealed to us by his strange turn of mind Auberand his school, whose art was so superficial; towards our Union Sacree at the present time. but it was gay (p. I9). His wonderful vigour, in spite of his advanced age, That Saint-Saens, for motives of propriety,should his his peculiarly youthfulmind, remarkable achieve- have been led to quote no names of living authors, his in ments, past rich triumphs, his present full of may to a certain extent be admitted: but then why honours and glory, all seemed clearly to designate does he not mention C6sar Franck; and why does he as Saint-Sains the man from whom the younger pass over Emmanuel Chabrier (leaving aside Maurice - from composers Gabriel Faure to Maurice Ravel, who is living) when he advocates, and rightly Delage and Darius Milhaud-would have been too, the restorationof comic and the renewal of to opera willing gather wisdom fromthe very outset of the the comic art (p. 19)? Why, speaking of melodies, war. All of them would have hushed their petty does he write: asthetical differencesor in order personal preferences Instead of Gounod's melodies little to accept the composer of 'Samson and Delilah' as (so known) Massenet'sand so manyothers, people began to sing their leader--just as the Greeks of yore accepted Schumann'slieder, so utterlydisfigured by old Nestor. But his attitude at once made this union translation impossible. In spite of all their willingness the (p. 35). young French School could not follow him. Indeed, Why so careful to avoid names, even a few of those the loftiestminds in France had understood that the 'so many others.' only wise thing to do was not to insult the enemy but No doubt Saint-Saens's adoption ofthis attitude is his to bring out his weaknesses and profitby them ; to absolute right,but we do not the less deeply regretit, for oppose German art withFrench art,and withoutceasing it will not create for him in the future the halo of to admire and revere the great German works of the glory of either Liszt or C~sar Franck. The 'genus past, to show how the present French music had left irritabilevatum' may also apply to composers, and is the German music far behind. not only the poet's privilege.

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And this is why we cannot possibly adopt the course the change did not occur immediately: it opinion stated by Mr. Klein, according to which groped its way, and sometimes went astray. We the ' brochure of a hundred pages, entitled are the firstto regret,for instance, that such dramas " Germanophilie," puts the case for French v. German as d'Indy's 'Fervaal,' Chausson's 'Roi Arthus,' or music more plainly than it has ever been put before' Chabrier's 'Gwendoline' should still be so much under (Musical Times, p. 400, 2nd column, par. 3.) the Wagnerian influence. They only marked stages in If we cannot admit Saint-Sains's attitude towards the journey which was to lead to 'Pelleas and French music, we can no more admit the attitude he Melisande,' Paul Dukas's ' Ariane and Barbe Bleue,' has thought fit to assume towards Wagner, and it and Gabriel Faure's 'Penelope.' would be a serious mistake to suppose that the ideas We have no need whatever to be unfair towards expressed in 'Germanophilie' represent French Richard Wagner's work; on the contrary, it has opinion. rendered us a great service in teaching us the First of all, we feel amazed at the following requirements and duties of our own music. Had we statement: not taken such an excessive fancy for Wagner's work, its which I have said acted us Wagner'sworks have forcedthemselves on theFrench object-lessons, upon by who think admire whilstin contrast,would have been less rapid in their results. public, they them, reality The French critical sense-more they do not understandthem at all, and theycannot developed than understandthem, for these works are at oncemusical and that of any other people-was not slow to realise literary. These lyricaldramas deprived of theirtext- the delusions and failings of Wagner's dramatic of whichgenerally wretched translations can give but a technique. It is a pity that even at the present time false notion-are for French hearers mere magic- Wagnerian works should not be performed in their lanternswhose lamps are not lighted(p. 13). entirety, for their disproportions and dramatic weaknesses And when Saint-Sains declares that: would flash out, and the French would understand better than ever how Richard Wagner, Le wagnerisme,sous couleurd'art, fut une machine who deemed himself a poet as well as a musical merveilleusementoutillhe pour rongerle patriotismeen dramatist, will live on chieflyas a symphonist, and France (' Germanophilie,'p. 23), that his true place, the only one which fits him and that we French can allow is [Wagnerism,in the guise of art, was a machine people him, not so much on marvellouslyfashioned to nibbleat Frenchpatriotism. the stage as in the concert-room. Convinced of this (Mr. Klein's Translation.)], fact, Claude Debussy, as early as 1902, had asked for a performance of the 'Tetralogy' to rid of he that he has or refuses to the chiefly get proves not, have, it! The performance of the Wagnerian dramas notion of the France. slightest Wagnerian question in proved, more clearly than any other demonstration And when he of 'the again, speaks wonderful, could have done, how little they suited French taste unnatural infatuationWagner's operas gave rise to,' and how their ?esthetic were absurd and be aware that the principles he seems not to Wagnerian opposed to French needs. influencehad ceased to be felt in France long before This twofoldmovement of action and reaction took the war. place in France between and 1905, but we can it is has lived so at Cairo or I885 Saint-Saans, true, long maintain that from 900oo onwards the Wagnerian in the Azores that he well be unaware of what may influence was no longer extant, except so far as it has taken in France. Had he a little place looked could be used for the erection of French music; and more he could have seen firstof all that those closely that very far from following German traces, the who have or works popularised vulgarised Wagner's French composers, for the first time in a in or Emmanuel nearly France-Vincent d'Indy Chabrier, hundred years, broke off German musical suggestion. for instance-are those who have done the actually Other developments to this anti- most to renew French music. If music helped support Wagner's German effort,and no doubt among them was the its influence on these two it did stamped composers, acquaintance made with the skilful,refined treasures not in the least prevent the formerfrom composing of Russian music. And the we must note his sur un air and by way 'Symphonie Montagnard franqais,' that Saint-Satns, alluding to this, writes : the latter from composing 'Le Roi Malgre lui,' 'La Bourrie Fantasque,' or the 'Marche Joyeuse,' The brilliantRussian School is a gold mine for which are all indisputably and thoroughlyFrench. pianists. And it is enough to mentionthe names of Saint-Saans, as I have already said, could have Balakirev,Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky . . . (p. 48). noticed that for nearly fifteenyears before the war broke out Wagner had ceased to influence French He gives the names of three second-rate composers, composers. and leaves aside-to mention only dead artists- The results of an inquiry into the relations between Borodin, Rimsky - Korsakov, Moussorgsky, and French music and Wagner, initiated about five or Scriabin ! six years ago by the Grande Revue, prove that an Whatever Saint-Saens may think, the present anti-Wagnerian reaction pervades all modern French generation has become 'so trulyFrench' as regards music. music only afterhaving understood both Wagnerian As early as 1902 Claude Debussy, in the articles powerfulness and weakness. We readily admit that he contributed to the Revue Blanche and to it is as well Wagner should not be played in France just Gil B/as, had put the question and pleaded for a now, but for the same reason we should agree to lay decided return to traditions more really French: aside the symphonies of Beethoven and Schumann, along with Charles Bordes and the foundersof the were it only to let them have a rest and thus allow us Schola Cantorum he strove to renew appreciation for to hear a certain number of French works, old or Couperin, Rameau, and others,even so far back as the modern. At this hour there is no less reason to play polyphonistsof the Renaissance. Wagner than Beethoven, but there is not any more Whilst it may be said that the study of Wagnerian either; both are equally classical, and Saint-Saens's works had stimulated a taste for symphonic music, denunciation can in no wise alter this fact. it risked stunting true French music; but the anti- The truth is that it would be highly more useful Wagnerian reaction of such minds as had before to help to speed the knowledge and influenceof French probed Wagnerism down to its very roots, finally symphonic works, than to decry the German geniuses freed France from German musical tutelage. Of of the past. That is the standpoint of the best known

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among French composers, artists and amateurs, and world would require strongerevidence before deciding since the war, this feeling has become intensified. that Camille Saint-Saens has a mind actuated by such I am happy enough to be on friendlyterms with the lack of artisticgenerosity. most eminent among French composers, fromFaur6 Once again I point out that in 'Germanophilie' the and Debussy to Roussel, Schmitt,and Ravel. I have pen of the tireless octogenarian was directed against had many opportunities to talk with them, with German music, not French. Admit that it may go a leaders of orchestras and dilettanti. I have received little too far. Grant that some of the ideas uttered by from the Front letters writtenby ardent patriots who, the ' old man eloquent' are a little extreme. That is notwithstanding their patriotism, rise against Saint- no justificationfor dragging a herringacross the scent Satins, and thereforeI have good grounds forbelieving and directingour attentionexclusively to his supposed that Saint-Satns's book representsthe opinion ofno one attitude towards modern French music. save its author. It has already won for us, outside Let it not be forgottenthat there was a time when France, unfavourable comments upon French taste Saint-Saens was regarded as the leader of advanced and critical sense, and so it is our duty to vindicate French musical thought. He has 'been through the French opinion in the minds of our friends of the mill,' and known what it was to wait for understanding Allied or Neutral powers. and acceptance of the very works which his present Ten years ago Romain Rolland, whose sympathy critics appear to regard with kindly indulgence. The for some German minds and for Richard Strauss in musician who has passed through his experiences particular is well-known,wrote : 'French art is silently could never be without sympathy for the rising creeping into the place of German art.' generation. Even if he would not join in their onward The French music of to-day owes less to Wagner march (which, it must be admitted, has seen Debussy than Saint-Satns does to Liszt and the German and Ravel go pretty fast and pretty far), I see no classics. It owes perhaps a little more to Wagner ground for accusing him of irritability,jealousy, than to Saint-Saens, which is no reason to despise and so forth,in his attitude towards certain modern either Wagner's or Saint-Satns's works, but neither developments in musical art. Still less truth is the one nor the other is indispensable to the present there in the assertion that his ' irritation' and or the futureof French music. his 'jealousy' against younger musicians have been steadily growing during the splendid French movement of the past fortyyears. On the contrary, MR. KLEIN'S REPLY. he was one of those who prepared the way for that not Thanks to the courtesy of the Editor of the movement. His sin in other eyes was that he did in Musical Times I am enabled to append a few lines of go hand hand with Ce6sarFranck. The few uttered M. reply to the above article, and am very glad of the passing compliments by cannot for the opportunityto do so. Jean-Aubry altogether compensate First, as to my position as the writer of the statements which, in my opinion, disfigure the fore- notice of 'Germanophilie' that appeared in the going article. The suggestion that M. Saint-Saens has the of his number (p. 400). I hold no brief for purposely ignored more gifted September as M. Saint-Satns ; neither do I make any pretence contemporaries is surely wanting in good taste to act as arbiter between him and M. Jean-Aubry, well as verisimilitude. The love who claims apparently to speak on behalf of the matter of encouraging and stimulatingthe is whole of modern musical France. Although a very of French music of all periods in this country old friendof the former,I venture to assert that I am 'another story' (I was fightingto aid that cause long crossed not in the least degree prejudiced ; and the fact that I years beforeM.Jean-Aubry and his friendshad do not live in Paris has not prevented me fromclosely the Channel). It is absurd to contend that M. Saint- music following the trend of musical taste and feeling in Sains's objection to the popularityof German in the France from 1875 to the present day. Moreover, as France can have a deleterious influenceupon one who sees from a distance, I claim to be able to popularization of French music in England. Still less view the whole of this controversyin an even 'fairer is it likely that his opinions, stated or imaginary,can affect French light' than can M. Jean-Aubry himself. I have English appreciation of 'up-to-date' read his book. I speak, therefore,with connaissance compositions. de cause. Meanwhile, it is interestingto note that in his own for the The question of fairness is a very important one. country there was never a greater demand is Does M. Jean-Aubry treat M. quite works of Saint-Saens, both new and old, than there fairly? I think not. He treats himSaint-Sa.ns rather as though at the present time. he owed him a To begin with,M. Saint-Saens grudge. A futurefor ! Mr. Ernest in has never assumed' the right to speak as the represen- Haydn Newman, noticing a of 'The Creation' under Mr. tative of French musical opinion. He has always performance given for himself or wise or Cotton at Birmingham, says : spoken only. Right wrong, The old with its often naive when he attacked at the beginning of delightful oratorio, unwise, Wagner treatmentof a is withoutits the war, he did so in his own name, no one's else; text that equal among oratoriosfor na'ivete, was reallyvery refreshing to ear and his chief reason for doing so (which his critics and soul. persistentlyignore) was not so much that he thought excessive quantities of Wagner bad for French music The prize of Ten Guineas for the best accompanied and the French public, as the hatefulfact thatWagner trio for female voices ofiered by Mr. Herman Klein monopolized all the programmes and thereby kept has been gained by Lieut. Colin Taylor, who wrote native composers out of them. under the motto 'Dream Pedlar.' The successful Was this 'doing nothing for the French music of work is a setting of 'Dream Pedlary,' by Thomas to-day'? Apparently M. Jean-Aubry would have us Lovell Beddoes. The new trio will be published believe that M. Saint-Saens's motive was a purely shortly by Messrs. Novello, and Mr. Klein's Ladies' selfish one-that he wanted to make room forhis own Choir will give it an early public performance. Forty music alone, or else for music of a bygone day. The fivecompositions were received. The following trios ground forthis conclusion is that in his newspaper and were highlycommended : ' May Wind' (' Marsyas') ; other writings he does not mention by name certain 'The Slumber Song' (' Miogs') ; 'Who is Sylvia?' dead brother-composersor living colleagues like Faur6 (' Harlequin') ; 'A Birthday' (' Feur Tirim ') ; 'The and Debussy. And is that all? Well, I imagine the Song of the Bees' (' Mark').

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