Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) – Pieces for Horn and Organ ( + voice)
One tends to forget today that Camille Saint-Saëns was trained and earned a living – at least in the first part of his life – as an organist. In 1851 he completed his studies at the Paris Conservatoire with a first prize in the organ class of François Benoist, before immediately obtaining a position as titular organist at the Saint-Séverin church in the Quartier Latin. In the spring of 1853 he moved back across the Seine to the Saint-Merry church near Châtelet. It is around this time that he must have composed the Adagio and Andante for valved horn and organ.
The second piece of this volume in terms of chronology is the Offertoire pour orgue et cor chromatique, of which only an unfinished version survives. Why Saint-Saëns never finished this promising work remains a mystery. Nonetheless, it appears that the composer did perform his Offertoire, as is suggested by a manuscript note of the editor Auguste Durand on the autograph score: "unfinished, composed for Mr Halary and played on the organ of Saint-Merry by the author". Considering the lengthy restoration of the organ in Saint-Merry and Saint-Saëns' new position after January 1858, the liturgically conceived Offertory may well have been composed and performed in the spring of 1855, for the Easter celebration.
Saint-Saëns left his position at Saint-Merry at the end of 1857; from the first of January 1858 he had at his disposal the original Cavaillé-Coll instrument at the church of the Madeleine, where he worked until 1877. As organist of this church, he dedicated yet another piece to Jules Halary around 1860, the Ave Verum for 2 sopranos, 2 altos, organ and obbligato valved horn. A further liturgical piece, Gloria Patri, dates from around the same time with the same instrumentation (although not necessarily with valved horn, as there is no explicit prescription and the piece is set predominantly in natural tones). This manuscript is deposited in the archive of the French Bibliothèque Nationale and has so far never been published. The horn gives both of these female choral movements a particular, festive colour.
Claude Maury/Daniel Allenbach
Camille Saint-Saëns – Adagio and Andante for valved horn and organ
