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 Bassoon Sonata, Op. 168,
was dedicated to Saint-Saëns' friend, August Périer,
a bassoon professor at the Paris Conservatoire.
This, the Adagio, the longest section of the entire
sonata at over five minutes, features a florid melody
over a simple, essentially chordal accompaniment.
Although originally written for Bassoon and Piano, I
created this arrangement for Viola and Piano.
SHEET MUSIC