Camille Saint-⁠Saëns / V. The French Line

Symphony No. 3, Op. 78 “Organ”

1886 · Orchestra, organ and piano four hands

2 recordings · 31 min

In the Hall

Part I — Adagio · Allegro moderato · Poco adagioPhilharmonic-⁠Symphony Orchestra of New York; Charles Munch; Édouard Nies-⁠Berger, organ · 10 November 1947, Carnegie Hall, New York
16:54
Saint-⁠Saëns joined two movements into each half of his symphony, and the organ first enters in the Poco adagio. Charles Munch and the New York Philharmonic-⁠Symphony made the work’s second recording in 1947.
Listening notes
1. Adagio introduction, woodwinds
  The Adagio opens with broken phrases for oboe, cor anglais and bassoon. Hugh Macdonald described these phrases as plaintive and heard in them a tone poem by Liszt.
2. Allegro, string figure
  The Allegro begins immediately. A restless figure in the strings becomes a theme, and it returns in many guises later in the symphony.
3. First performance, London, 19 May 1886
  Saint-⁠Saëns conducted the first performance at St James’s Hall, London, for the Royal Philharmonic Society, which had commissioned it. In the first half he played a Beethoven concerto, with Arthur Sullivan conducting.
4. Munch’s Columbia recording, 1947
  Munch’s Columbia set was the work’s second recording, after Piero Coppola’s French HMV version of 1930, and Munch’s first in the United States. It was made at Carnegie Hall on 10 November 1947.
5. First organ entry, slow movement
  The organ plays for the first time at the start of the slow movement. It holds soft chords in D♭ major beneath a theme in the strings.
6. Second statement of the string melody
  The string melody returns, now played by clarinet, two horns and two trombones across three octaves. Pizzicato double basses recall an earlier theme before the main tune returns.
7. Return of the main tune
  The main tune returns, and the movement closes. Hugh Macdonald, in his programme note for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, called the close serene.
Open in the Concert Hall
Part II — Scherzo · Presto · Maestoso · AllegroPhilharmonic-⁠Symphony Orchestra of New York; Charles Munch; Édouard Nies-⁠Berger, organ · 10 November 1947, Carnegie Hall, New York
14:04
Part II of the “Organ” Symphony opens with a C minor scherzo and a Presto with scales in both hands for the piano, after which the organ enters with a huge C major chord. In Munch’s 1947 reading, a long quiet passage over G leads to that chord.
Listening notes
1. Scherzo in C minor
  The second half opens with a scherzo, back in C minor.
2. Presto in C major, piano scales
  The Presto is in C major. The piano plays a series of scales in both hands.
3. Dedication to Liszt
  The composer had intended to dedicate the symphony to Liszt, who died that July. The published dedication reads “to the memory of Franz Liszt”. When the work was heard in Paris, Gounod is reported to have called it the French Beethoven.
4. Opening of the Maestoso finale
  The finale, marked Maestoso, opens with a C major chord on the organ. The main theme returns as a chorale.
5. Piano duet, upper register
  A second pianist joins the first, and the two play in the upper register. Saint-⁠Saëns took this sonority from Berlioz’s Lélio, of which he made the piano reduction at nineteen.
6. Performers and label credits
  The organist, Nies-⁠Berger, is credited on every label but plays only on sides 3, 4, 7 and 8. The pianists of the four-hand part are uncredited on the labels; Pristine’s reissue names Walter Hendl and Arthur Schuller.
7. Saint-⁠Saëns on the symphony
  Saint-⁠Saëns said that he had given this symphony all that he had to give, and that he would never do again what he had done there.
Open in the Concert Hall

More by Saint-⁠Saëns