In the last year of his life, at the age of 85, Camille
Saint-Saëns was still active as a composer and
conductor, traveling between Algiers and Paris. Besides
a final piano album leaf, his last completed works were
three sonatas, one each for oboe, clarinet, and
bassoon. He sensed that he did not have much time left;
he wrote to a friend, "I am using my last energies to
add to the repertoire for these otherwise neglected
instruments." He intended to write sonatas for another
three wind instrume...(+)
In the last year of his life, at the age of 85, Camille
Saint-Saëns was still active as a composer and
conductor, traveling between Algiers and Paris. Besides
a final piano album leaf, his last completed works were
three sonatas, one each for oboe, clarinet, and
bassoon. He sensed that he did not have much time left;
he wrote to a friend, "I am using my last energies to
add to the repertoire for these otherwise neglected
instruments." He intended to write sonatas for another
three wind instruments, but was never able to.
Saint-Saëns began the pieces early in the year while
in Algeria and completed them in April in Paris. He was
not alone in wanting to write for these instruments.
English composers, such as Holst and Bax, and other
French composers, such as Honegger and Milhaud, were
also starting to expand the literature for woodwind
instruments around the same time. In fact,
Saint-Saëns' sonatas have pastoral and humorous
moments that are similar to those others' works,
relying on simpler melodies and textures than are found
even his earlier chamber works, yet retaining Classical
forms for their structure. Although all three sonatas
were published before Saint-Saëns' death, they were
not premiered until later.
The Sonata for oboe and piano, Op. 166, was the first
of the three to be completed over the course of a
couple of months in early 1921. As soon as he was
finished, Saint-Saëns wrote to his publisher in Paris
that he wanted to have them "tested" before they were
edited for publication. The Oboe Sonata was played by
his friend Louis Bas, who seemed so pleased with the
work that Saint-Saëns dedicated it to him. The
structure and lines of the sonata are not unlike what
other French and neo-Classical composers were using
around the same period and, in fact, the Oboe Sonata
also has almost a preternatural resemblance to the
works of the English pastoralists (Saint-Saëns was
living in Algeria when he wrote it). The sonata opens
with a gentle Andantino, followed by the bipartite
second movement, an ad libitum recitative leading into
an Allegretto gigue. The final Molto allegro is almost
dance-like with shades of the energy of Saint-Saëns'
more youthful works. All in all, the sonata is a
standard work in the oboe repertoire, giving the
performer a gratifying match between technical
challenges and melodic expression.
Saint-Saëns' Oboe Sonata has three movements however,
the movements are not ordered according to the
traditional fast-slow-fast sonata system. The tempo of
the movements increases successively.
The first movement, Andantino, is music of a pastoral
kind, in ternary form ABA. The opening theme of the
oboe solo is an echo of the Westminster chime.
The core of the second movement is a Romance, marked
Allegretto. It is preceded by an introduction and
followed by an epilogue.The introduction and epilogue
are marked ad libitum - that is, the performer is free
to choose the tempo they feel is most appropriate. At
the end of the second movement there is an oboe
cadenza, with sharp piano chords and expressive
phrases.
The last movement, titled Molto Allegro, short and
brilliant, has passages of great difficulty and
virtuosity.
PARTITION