The Correspondence of Camille Saint-Saëns and Paul Taffanel, 1880-1906

Author(s): Edward Blakeman

Source: Music & Letters, Vol. 63, No. 1/2 (Jan. - Apr., 1982), pp. 44-58
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/736040
Accessed: 05-09-2019 09:15 UTC

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 THE CORRESPONDENCE OF CAMILLE
SAINT-SAENS AND PAUL TAFFANEL,
1880-1906

BY EDWARD BLAKEMAN

THE professional collaboration between Saint-Saens (1835-1921)

and the flautist and conductor Paul Taffanel (1844-1908) has
received some attention from Saint-Saens's biographers,' but the
full extent of this collaboration and their close personal association
through more than 30 years has remained largely undocumented.
It is not widely known that Saint-Saens was godfather to Taffanel's
daughter Marie-Camille, enjoying within the Taffanel family circle
a warmth of affection similar to that extended to him by Faure and
his children.2 Jean Bonnerot was aware of the existence of some
private correspondence between Saint-Saens and Marie-Camille
Taffanel, and he once suggested the possible publication of these
letters, but this project was never realized.3 A few letters between
Saint-Saens and Taffanel's wife, Genevieve, also survive. In these
delightful letters both mother and daughter emerge as devoted
admirers of the composer, while Saint-Saens is revealed as a most
conscientious godfather and friend. When in Paris, he was
evidently a frequent visitor to their house in Avenue Gourgaud
(always bearing gifts), and his letters from abroad are wittily
illustrated with drawings and designs.
The correspondence between Saint-Saens and Paul Taffanel
numbers 43 items-letters, express letters, cards, telegrams; 27 are
from Saint-Saens to Taffanel and sixteen from Taffanel to
Saint-Saens. Various references throughout the correspondence
suggest that several more letters written by Taffanel and at least
two more by Saint-Saens have not survived. Of the existing
correspondence, Taffanel's letters and those of his family are
housed in the Musee de Dieppe; Saint-Saens's letters have been
preserved, along with other mementoes of the composer, by
Taffanel's descendants.4

I SeeJean Bonnerot, C. Saint-Saens (1835-1921): sa vie et son oeuvre, Paris, 1923, and Arthur
Dandelot, La Vie et l'oeuvre de Saint-Saens, Paris, 1930.
2 See Jean-Michel Nectoux, Camille Saint-Saens et Gabriel Faure: correspondance, Paris, 1973,
p. 12.
Unpublished letter to M. Charles Samaran, Paul Taffanel's son-in-law, 14 October
1955.
4 I am indebted to M. Marcel Nussy Saint-Saens, the composer's great-nephew, to M.
Pierre Bazin, Curator of the Musee de Dieppe, and to Mlle Jeanne Samaran, Taffanel's
granddaughter, for permission to publish the correspondence between Saint-Saens and
Taffanel. Particular thanks are due to Mlle Samaran, who gave me generous access to the
letters and papers in her possession and assisted in the transcription of the correspondence;
and to Mr. Roger Nichols, who advised on the translation from the French.

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 In the following selection from the correspondence, the aim has
been to illustrate mainly the professional association of Saint-Saens
and Taffanel. Thus, most of the letters dealing with specifically
musical matters are included, while those that are of only passing
interest or merely concern appointments and arrangements have
been omitted. The numbering of each letter refers to its position
within the complete collection, which extends from No. 1, Taffanel
to Saint-Saens, 26 April 1880, to No. 43, Saint-Saens-to Taffanel, 3
February 1906.

Paul Taffanel was a remarkable figure in nineteenth-century

French music. The son of a theatre musician at Bordeaux, he went
to Paris in 1858, aged thirteen, to study at the Conservatoire. There
he gained premiers prix in flute (1 860), harmony (1 862) and fugue
(1865). For the next 25 years he pursued a brilliant international
career as a flautist. In 1890, at the age of 45, he turned his attention
towards conducting, becoming premier chef d'orchestre at the Societe
des Concerts du Conservatoire in 1892 and at the Opera in 1893.
As these posts had usually been held by violinists (often former
leaders of the orchestra) it was a considerable break with tradition
for a flautist to be appointed. At the same time Taffanel held the
professorship of the flute at the Conservatoire and from 1897 that of
the new classe d'orchestre too. This class, the first of its kind in Paris,
aimed to provide a systematic orchestral training for the in-
strumental students of the Conservatoire, with regular rehearsals
and concerts. At the Paris Exhibition of 1900 Taffanel directed a
series of official concerts in the Palais du Trocadero, but from 1901
ill-health forced him progressively to resign most of his conducting
and teaching commitments. He died in Paris on 21 November
1908.5 As a composer and writer, he left a small legacy of works,
including several occasional pieces for flute and piano, a wind
quintet (1876), an article on conducting for Lavignac's Encyclop6
and unfinished projects for a flute method and a historical study of
the flute.
Taffanel had a lifelong admiration for the music of Saint-Saens.
In 1872 he requested a hearing of the newly composed Romance for
flute and orchestra, Op. 37, from the committee of the Societe des
Concerts, where he was principal flute: 'Your support would be the
greatest honour for me and also the fulfilment of my dearest wish'.6
Although there is no record of any performance under the society's
auspices resulting from this, the Romance was a work with which
Taffanel became closely associated. He included it in concerts in
Russia, England and Germany, and the most notable Paris
performance was at the concert at the Salle Pleyel on 2 June 1896
marking the 50th anniversary of Saint-Saens's first appearance

5For further biographical information, prepared with the help of Taffanel himself, see
Hugues Imbert, M6daillons contemporains, Paris, 1902, pp. 391-6.
6 Bibliotheque Nationale, Lettres autographes, Paul Taffanel, No. 18, 20 October 1872.

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there as a pianist on 6 May 1846. The orchestra of the Societe des
Concerts was conducted by Taffanel, and the programme featured
Saint-Saens as the soloist in Mozart's Piano Concerto in B flat,
K.450-included in the original concert-and in the premiere of
his own Fifth Piano Concerto. Saint-Saens also conducted the
orchestra, with Taffanel as soloist, in the Romance for flute7 and
accompanied Sarasate in the first performance of the Second Violin
Sonata. Saint-Saens subsequently inscribed the opening bars of the
Romance on a visiting card to Taffanel.8
It is perhaps not surprising that the restrained lyricism of this
work and the many Classical features of much of Saint-Saens's
other music appealed so strongly to Taffanel, since he was almost
exclusively responsible for the restoration to the flute repertory of
long-neglected works from the eighteenth century, by Bach,
Mozart and others. His influence as a player and teacher, which
extended throughout Europe, also resulted in the composition of
much new solo and chamber music for the flute. His cultivation of a
refined style of performance was in direct contrast to the earlier
virtuoso school of Tulou9 and encouraged composers at the turn of
the century to reconsider the possibilities of the flute as an
expressive instrument.
In a letter written the day after Taffanel's appointment as
conductor of the Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire, Saint-
Saens paid tribute to his exceptional artistry as a flautist and
regretted the loss that his retirement from playing would mean.
Taffanel's direction of the Societe des Concerts and the Opera was,
however, to guarantee Saint-Saens a tireless champion of his
orchestral and stage works.

6. Saint-Saens to Taffanel, 4 June [1892]'?

' . Uno avulso non deficit alter Aureus .
I went to the Opera hoping to congratulate you, you were not
there!
And I have to leave for Switzerland tomorrow without seeing you,
or my charming god-daughter, or her charming mother. But I shall
return, at least I hope so, and we shall meet again!
The terribly sad thing is that you will no longer play the flute, and
that no one will ever again play it like you.

7 This concert was reviewed by Paul Dukas: '. . . a Romance for flute and orchestra,
whose noble and melancholy beauty was brought out by M. Taffanel-a great artist and a
marvellous technician'; the review is reprinted in Dukas, Ecrits sur la musique, Paris, 1948,
p. 337.
8 Saint-Saens-Taffanel correspondence, item 14 June 1896].
9Jean-Louis Tulou (1786-1865), flautist, composer, professor at the Paris Conservatoire
(1829-59) and a vociferous critic of the Boehm flute.
'? The music quoted is a flute solo from Saint-Saens's opera Ascanio (1888), Act I scene 4
(Durand score, p. 39, Fig. 42). See Charles Malherbe, Notice sur Ascanio, Paris, 1890, pp.
2526:... . a leitmotiv, depicting the refined, elegant and graceful nature of the protagonist'.
" Virgil, Aeneid, vi. 143-4 ('Primo avulso .. .' in the original): 'When the first is rent
away, a second, golden no less, succeeds'.

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 Saturday evening 4 June.
C. S-S.

The precise point when Taffanel and Saint-Saens first met is

open to conjecture. Taffanel's first experience of Saint-Saens's
music may have been at the age of twelve when, on 10 June 1857,
Saint-Saens visited Bordeaux to conduct his F major Symphony
('Urbs Roma'), which had won first prize there in a competition
sponsored by the Societe Sainte-Cecile.'2 On 22 January 1857
Taffanel had appeared as flute soloist at a charity concert in
Bordeaux, and it seems likely that he would have been given every
opportunity by his father, who directed his musical education, to
attend local performances-especially as plans were being made for
him to study in Paris. Whether or not he was introduced then to the
21-year-old composer, Taffanel would no doubt have met him
through his flute teacher, Louis Dorus, soon after arriving in
Paris.'3 Dorus and Saint-Saens, along with other musicians such as
the singer Pauline Viardot and the cellist Charles Lebouc, were
frequent performers together at the Salle Pleyel around this time.
Dorus was one of the dedicatees of Saint-Saens's Tarantelle for
flute, clarinet and piano, Op. 6, so much admired by Rossini.'4 In
particular, on 10 April 1862 Dorus was involved in a concert at the
Salle Erard directed by Saint-Saens and devoted entirely to his
compositions. By 1864 Taffanel's own playing career was launched,
and he noted in his journal:'5

26 Feb. Concert Saint-Saens

(Bach Sonata. Meyerbeer present.)

From then on he seems increasingly to have taken Dorus's place in

this circle of musicians (Dorus retired completely in 1868). He was
a regular participant at Mme Saint-Saens's Monday evening
receptions, and somewhat later he must have been involved with
the plans for the founding of the Societe Nationale de Musique by
Saint-Saens and Romain Bussine, for his name appears as assistant
treasurer in the first list of committee members.'6

12 See Daniel Fallon, 'Saint-Saens and the Concours de composition musicale in Bordeaux',
Journal of the American Musicological Society, xxxi (1978), 309-25.
13 Vincent Vansteenkiste, known as Louis Dorus (1813-96), was professor at the Paris
Conservatoire from 1860 to 1868. A friend of Theobald Boehm, he was responsible for an
alternative GO key on the new flute.
14 See Saint-Saens's account of Rossini's practical joke at the first performance-he
claimed the piece as his own-in Ecole buissonniere: notes et souvenirs, Paris, 1913, pp. 263-4.
'Notes biographiques et professionnelles (1860-1907)' (unpublished), included in his
private papers.
16 The Societe Nationale was founded on 25 February 1871: see Daniele Pistone, La
Musique en France de la Rivolution a 1900, Paris, 1979, p. 113.

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 In 1879 Taffanel founded the Societe de Musiquc de Chambre
pour Instruments a Vent, which gave six concerts in Paris each
season until 1893 and undertook various tours abroad. As the
resident pianist was Louis Diemer, Saint-Saens seems to have
performed only once (in Diemer's absence), on 30 April 1885, when
he played his own Rapsodie d'Auvergne for piano.'7 Music by him,
however, featured regularly in the programmes; for example, the
penultimate season (1892) included the Op. 37 Romance for flute
in the version with piano, the Scherzo for two pianos, Op. 87, the
Caprice sur des airs danois et russes for flute, oboe, clarinet and piano
and, as a last-minute substitution on 28 April, Le Carnaval des
animaux, a work that he rarely allowed to be performed and which
was released for publication only after his death.
The first letter of the existing correspondence is a formal one
written by Taffanel in his capacity as secretary to the Societe des
Concerts. In it he thanks Saint-Saens on behalf of the Societe and
offers him a commemorative medal to mark his appearances in the
1879-80 season as soloist in Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto.'8
The letters that have survived from their personal correspondence
began two years later with the birth of Taffanel's third child.'9 He
appears initially to have approached Saint-Saens's mother about
the possibility of Saint-Saens's becoming a godfather. Presumably
he hesitated before asking him directly as it was so soon after the
tragic deaths of Saint-Saens's own two children and the subsequent
breakdown of his marriage.20 On 6 May 1882 Taffanel wrote to
Saint-Saens's mother requesting news and urging her to forget the
whole idea unless she had already spoken to her son.2' The next day
he received the long-awaited reply from Saint-Saens:

2. Saint-Saens to Taffanel, 7 May 1882

My dear friend,
I had vowed that I would not be a godfather ever again. I have two
reasons for this. The first you can guess, and the second is my
antipathy to religious ceremonies. Nevertheless it seems to me that we
could get round this by having some friend or other represent me at
the ceremony. On that condition I shall accept, and with great
pleasure.
My respects to Madame Taffanel and my best wishes to you.
C. Saint-Saens.

A message of congratulation on the birth of Marie-Camille followed

six weeks later.22
17 Taffanel altered his copy of the programme for this concert to include Saint-Saens's
name. His private papers include a complete set of programmes (1879-93).
18 Correspondence, item 1, 26 April 1880. The season also included a performance of
Saint-Saens's choral work La Lyre et la harpe, Op. 57.
'9 Taffanel married Genevieve Deslignieres (1852-1940) in 1874. Their three children
were Jacques (1875-1946), Juliette (1879-81) and Marie-Camille (1882-1962).
20 Saint-Saens's sons, Andre andJean-Francois, died in May andJuly 1878 respectively.
He parted from his wife in July 1881. See Bonnerot, C. Saint-Saens, p. 92.
' Taffanel kept a copy of this letter.
22 Correspondence, item 3 [17 June 1882].

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 During the 1 880s Saint-Saens and Taffanel were frequent
collaborators in chamber music concerts organized by Charles
Lebouc and by Emile Lemoine, who directed the society called La
Trompette. Thus in 1885 and 1886 Taffanel took part in the first
performances of Saint-Saens musical parodies-the 'comedie
bouffe' Gabriella di Vergy and Le Carnaval des animaux. In April 1887,
with the oboist Georges Gillet and the clarinettist Charles Turban,
he accompanied Saint-Saens to Russia for a series of concerts in St.
Petersburg organized by the Red Cross. This was followed by a
visit to London in June of the same year. It was for the Russian
concerts that Saint-Saens composed the afore-mentioned
Caprice . . ., which is dedicated to the Empress of Russia. At the
same period Taffanel was engaged in preparing various transcrip-
tions of music by Saint-Saens (see Appendix I for a list of them as
well as of original works by Saint-Saens including a solo flute).
Most of the extant correspondence concerns the period 1892 to
1903, when Taffanel was pursuing his career as an orchestral and
opera conductor. As a flautist he had always received unanimous
praise from the critics, but his reception as a conductor was rather
more mixed.23 Gustave Samazeuilh, writing with the benefit of
hindsight in 1942, perhaps summed up the situation most
dispassionately :24

Paul Taffanel was the obvious choice to take over the Societe from
Garcin. He preserved its traditions, displaying energy, conviction, a
certain 'absolutism' as well; but even those who reproached him for a
certain dryness of interpretation could not deny his technical skill and
sense of style.

And he adds: 'After the great masters of the past, Saint-Saens was
his favourite composer'.
Saint-Saens was a notorious critic of conductors, and his
writings are liberally interspersed with diatribes on the subject.
Deploring, as did Taffanel, the extravagant showmanship so much
in evidence at the time, he insisted that 'the merit of a conductor
lies in the excellence of the performance that he obtains from his
orchestra, the perfect interpretation of the composer's intentions'.25
Taffanel himself observed: 'Anybody can conduct; knowing how to
rehearse is what counts'.26 Much as the two men may have agreed
in theory, in practice there were sometimes problems, as the
composer's great-nephew recalls: 'I have retained the memory of

23 Pierre Lalo, writing for Le Temps, was his bitterest critic: see his collected reviews, La
Musique 1898-1899, Paris, 1900, pp. 81, 177, 345 etc. Favourable reviews usually appeared
Le Minestrel and Le Monde musical.
24 Gustave Samazeuilh, Musiciens de mon temps, Paris, 1947, pp. 369-70.
25 Ecole buissonniere, p. 214. See also Saint-Saens, Harmonie et melodie, Paris, 1885, p. 205.
26 'L'Art de diriger', Encyclopedie de la musique et dictionnaire du Conservatoire, ed. Albert
Lavignac & Lionel de La Laurencie, Paris, 1913-31, Part II, iv. 2132. Taffanel's article,
completed shortly before his death, sets out his views on conducting in some detail; in
particular he advocated scrupulous attention to the details of a score, and economy of gesture
in performance.

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only one anecdote-my great-uncle brutally interrupting your
grandfather [Taffanel] during the performance of one of his works:
"But it is not the tempo that I intended!" '27
It is the vexed question of tempo that preoccupies Saint-Saens
in the following two letters. On 15 May 1902 Taffanel conducted
the Conservatoire classe d'orchestre and choir in a student concert
which included Part III of Schumann's Szenen aus Goethes Faust.
Hearing that the programme was to be repeated on 12 June (at a
charity concert in aid of the victims of the devastation caused by
the volcanic eruption of Mont Pelee on the island of Martinique),
Saint-Saens at once challenged Taffanel:

35. Saint-Saens to Taffanel, 6 June 190228

My dear friend,
I wouldn't have mentioned it to you; but as the matter has arisen
again, I must speak-I can't help it.
In my humble opinion, except for the first chorus, the whole of
Faust was played much, much too fast. All of it requires an ecstatic
calmness, which was lacking and which could not be achieved at that
hurried pace. You know you don't have to observe the given
tempos-after Schumann's death his metronome was found to be
inaccurate.
These rapid tempos is [sic] a drawback, they totally annihilate the
rhythmic contrast in the 2/4 section29

which is deplorable; and everywhere, the character was changed and

not to the benefit of the work!
So what becomes of the marvellous phrase30

: z

and the sense of the words: 'the Eternal Feminine draws us on high'?3'
And at the beginning, the cello solo and the delightful strains of the
'Pater extaticus'32 and the little contralto solo in the 'Mater gloriosa',33
which I was waiting for and which I did not hear?

2 Unpublished letter from M. Marcel Nussy Saint-Saens to Mlle Jeanne Samaran, 2

June 198 1.
28 Some indication of the intensity of feeling and haste in the writing of this letter may
perhaps be inferred from the unusual occurrence of two grammatical errors in the original.
29 Schumann, Szenen aus Goethes Faust, Part III, Robert Schumann's Werke, ser. IX/7
Leipzig, 1885. 'Faust's Verklarung', No. 4, p. 202, 'Allegretto' (no metronome marking).
30 Ibid., No. 7, 'Chorus mysticus', p. 263, first violins, 'Bewegter' (no metronome
marking, but the previous indication was minim = 104: see note 31).
31 Ibid., p. 254, 'Lebhaft', minim = 104.
32 Ibid., No. 2, p. 177, opening bars, 'Etwas bewegter', the minims to correspond to the
dotted crotchets of No. 1 (marked dotted crotchet = 56).
33 Ibid., No. 6, p. 244, 'A tempo'; the beginning of the movement is marked 'Tempo wie
vorher' (no metronome marking).

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 Think about all that, let your artistic conscience reflect upon it,
and won't you see if I'm not right? . . .

[Cartoon drawing of a snake]

Tell your dear daughter that when [she] has finished her honey,
she has only to say; I have enough of it to sweeten a whole army.
With apologies and most affectionately,
C. Saint-Saens.

Taffanel's reply, containing an apparently spirited defence of his

interpretation, has unfortunately not survived; but it provoked this
response from Saint-Saens:

36. Saint-Saens to Taffanel, 8 June 1902

My dear friend,
Don't scold me! One obviously thinks twice, in fact several times
when it's a matter of not sharing your opinion; one knows that you do
nothing without thinking it over and without having studied the
question thoroughly.
It was Mme Schumann herself who told me that there was no need
to take any account of her husband's metronome markings. As regards
the connection between the first and second movements,34 that only
proves for me that the first, as well, was too fast.
As for the finale, since the speed has to be increased,35 all the more
reason for beginning this last chorus gently. And besides, it must be
acknowledged that the sentiment of the music and that of the words do
not match each other very well in this finale . . . the final chorus of
Liszt's Faust' catches the mood more accurately.
If you want to come and talk to me about this, come whenever you
like; I have bronchitis, and I shall keep to my room tomorrow and the
day after.
Kiss my god-daughter for me and very best wishes to you all.
C. Saint-Saens.

It appears that both men gave much consideration to the subject of

the use and reliability of the metronome in determining 'authentic'
performances.37 Henri Biusser even recalls a meeting of the staff of
conductors at the Opera to note the speeds for Gounod's Faust,
which Taffanel had recorded at a performance conducted by the
38
composer.
Taffanel was equally meticulous in his preparation of the works
of Saint-Saens. The correspondence includes various instances of
his seeking advice, and Saint-Saens seems generally to have been

" See note 32 above.

35 See note 30 above.
36 Liszt's Faust-Symphonie (1854-7) ends with a setting of the same Goethe text.
37 See Saint-Saens, 'Le Metronome', a report submitted to the Academie des Sciences,
28 June 1886, with musical illustrations from the works of Schumann; printed (text only) in
Au courant de la vie, Paris, 1916, and enlarged on in 'Le Metronome et l'espace celeste',
ProblImes et mysteres, Paris, 1894. Various notes on the metronome are included in Taffanel's
private papers, and the subject is treated in 'L'Art de diriger', pp. 2131-2.
38 Recollection from 1908 in Henri Biusser, De Pellias aux Indes galantes, Paris, 1955,
p. 173.

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well pleased with the results-'a phalanx of heroes directed by
Caesar'39 was how he described the orchestra and Taffanel at the
premiere of Fredegonde. He wrote several times to congratulate
Taffanel on successful performances, some of which he had missed
because of his frequent absences abroad. Occasionally he com-
ments on the music, as in a letter, sent from Las Palmas, which
refers to concerts given by the Societe des Concerts on 31 March
and 1 April 1899:

23. Saint-Saens to Taffanel, 17 April 1899

My dear friend,
I learnt by chance, from a newspaper, that the Societe des
Concerts had done me the great honour of performing my Requiem, and
my dear heart thrilled with pleasure. How sad to think that I will
never hear it! There are some marvellously delicate moments, notably
the 'Hostias'4 and the long descent of the violins at the end of the
'Lacrymosa' .
Be warned (horresco referens)42 that at last I have written a string
quartet ('a ficelles', as Lemoine says).43 Now it must be played, it must
be heard; what a disastrous prospect! . . .
In the meantime, in five weeks, I shall be making for Brazil, where
the monkeys and the parrots are screaming for me; if I find anything
pretty there for my dear god-daughter I shall bring it back for her.

[Cartoon drawing of a flute player]

Best wishes to all,

C. Saint-Saens.

During his nine seasons (1892-1901) as conductor of the Societe

des Concerts, Taffanel performed fifteen works by Saint-Saens (see
Appendix II). He was not, however, uncritical of his music; his
granddaughter relates that, according to her mother (Marie-
Camille), he believed that many works would not stand the test of
time. The one for which he seems to have had a particular regard,
and which has kept its place in the repertory, was the Third
Symphony; it appeared in four concerts, including his last, on 21
April 1901. The only work by Saint-Saens that he performed as
often was the symphonic poem Le Rouet d'Omphale, which he
included in his first concert, on 27 November 1892.
In the following letter Taffanel raises an interesting point
concerning the juxtaposition of F and F in the first movement of
the Third Symphony. While no reply from Saint-Saens has
survived, it seems clear from a study of the score that he indicated

39Correspondence, item 13, 24 December 1895.

40 Messe de Requiem, Op. 54 (1878), Durand score, p. 52; the music is lightly orchestrated
for two harps, first and second violins divisi, and organ.
41 Ibid., p. 48; the first and second violins have ten bars marked pp, leading into and
accompanying the 'Pie Jesu'.
42 Virgil, Aeneid, ii. 240: 'I shudder to relate'.
43 Literally 'pieces of string'-the pun is untranslatable. Saint-Saens's First String
Quartet, Op. 112, received its first Paris performance on 21 December 1899.

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two versions of the phrase in question-one with Fg throughout,
the other with F# followed by FX-and that he positively intended
the consequent ambiguity.

16. Taffanel to Saint-Saens, [January 1897?]4

Dear Camille,
After waiting more than fifteen years I have just managed, with
your help, to have the organ console heated. Tomorrow you will have
an even-tempered instrument!!45
There is in the first movement a doubtful passage which has not
been sorted out. It is this one

~j~jjy retc.

In the basses and bassoons the F marked with a cross is preceded by a

$ in certain places, in others there is nothing, and so the F is
presumably #-and finally further on there is a small sharp
brackets over the top ( S ).46 What is it all about?
Thank you, dearest friend, for the great artistic satisfaction that
you give me.
Yours as ever,
Paul Taffanel.

At the Opera, Taffanel no doubt helped to overcome the

considerable opposition that Saint-Saens had previously encoun-
tered. As has been mentioned, he conducted the premiere of
Fredegonde, on 18 December 1895. This opera was left unfinished by
Ernest Guiraud (1837-92) and subsequently completed by Saint-
Saens in memory of his former friend and colleague. His main
contribution to the score was the ballet music for Act III. It
includes a Presto movement in irregular metre (a recurring five-bar
pattern of 3/4-2/4-2/4-3/4-2/4) which provoked the following
reaction from Taffanel:

12. Taffanel to Saint-Saens, [7 August 1895]47

Whatever opinion I have of myself it couldn't be too high since it

has earned me a priceless autograph!
Your new 12/4 time does not frighten me. I shall conduct it
'pentagonally'!. ... How about that! eh? I'm taking out a patent so that

44The circumstances surrounding this undated letter are obscure. Possibly a perform-
ance of the symphony away from Paris, with Saint-Saens as organist, was being planned.
The envelope is marked 'Cote de Provence', but the date stamp is only partly legible.
45 A pun on the French 'agreable'.
46 Third Symphony. Op. 78 (1886), first movement, examples of discrepancies (Durand
score): f, bars 12 and 15 (violas), bar 10 of Letter A (2nd clarinet, 2nd bassoon), Letter M
(violas, half of the cellos); fO, bars 11 and 14 of Letter D, bars 24 and 27 of Letter N (1st
bassoon); above the stave, bar 4 of Letter M (violas, half of the cellos).
47 Date stamped on the envelope.

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d'Harcourt48 doesn't pinch my invention:

6.7. 8.9.10.

4.5. 1.12.

1.2.3.
laremi

I reckon that really merits the cross of Commander of the Congo!!49

Yours,
Paul Taff- -

This may well have developed into something of a private joke

between the two men, for Saint-Saens quotes the same movement
seven years later on the occasion of Taffanel's appointment as
Officier de l'Instruction Publique.

37. Saint-Saens to Taffanel, July 1902?]5?

You mean to say you weren't already an Officier d'Acad6mie! I

wonder if it's worth bothering to congratulate you on such a little
thing; you soar in regions far above this little violet ribbon, the
cynosure of so much greed.
I'm in the middle of preparing a decoration for you.5'
See what you think:
Ballet No. 3. All0.52

AA
Ai A

and so on for N plus one bars.

If after that you are not appointed Officier d'Instruction [sic]
Publique.
C. St-S.

Taffanel also conducted the premiere of Les Barbares at the Opera

(23 October 1901) and the revival of Henry VIII (18 May 1903), as
well as various performances of Ascanio and Samson et Dalila, which
were in the repertory intermittently during this period. If one also
takes into account the tworks by Saint-Saens included in the
concerts of the classe d'orchestre at the Conservatoire and in the
offi ial concerts at the Paris Exhibition of 1900, the extent both of
TaS.anel's commitment to the music of Saint-Saens and of
Saint-Saens's debt to him becomes apparent.

Probably Eugene d'Harcourt (1861-1918), composer, and conductor of the Concerts

Eclectiques Populaires, 1892-5.
49 Presumably a joking reference to Saint-Saens's frequent visits to Africa.
50 Taffanel noted in his journal that he was appointed Officier de l'Instruction Publique
(an honorary academic award from the government) in July 1902. This was formally
announced at the Conservatoire annual prize distribution on 2 August 1902.
5' A pun on the musical meaning of the French word, 'agrement' (ornament).
52 Marked 'Presto' in the printed score of Fredigonde (Durand).

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 Eventually Taffanel's diligence was rewarded with the dedica-
tion of the cantata Le Feu celeste, Op. 1 15. This was composed early
in 1900 (with the provisional title Le Feu du ciel) and performed at
the first official concert of the exhibition on 31 May, conducted by
Taffanel. It is one of the pieces d'occasion that Saint-Saens produced
with such facility in the latter part of his life.53 With a text by
Armand Silvestre, it employs a reciter, soprano soloist, choir, organ
and vast orchestra in celebration of electricity-the ultimate
symbol of progress at the exhibition, 'all-powerful queen of the
twentieth century'.54 Though well received at the time, this work
has long been forgotten, and only a vocal score of it was published
by Durand. The manuscript full score,55 however, reveals finely
judged craftsmanship and various subtleties of orchestration-for
example, the section after Fig. 4 ('This flame, to the vault of heaven
flown . . .'), where recitation is accompanied by eight divisi cellos,
two harps, solo first violins and muted violas.
On completion of Le Feu celeste, Saint-Saens, who was in Las
Palmas, sent a detailed-and characteristically ironic-description
of the work to Taffanel:

26. Saint-Saens to Taffanel, 18 February 1900

My very dear friend,

It seems you have allowed yourself the luxury of being ill, and that
does not surprise me; I have always thought that the combination of
the Societe, the Opera and the Professoriat constituted too heavy a
burden for your physical strength and that sooner or later you would
have to reduce this commendable but overtaxing work-load. Be
sensible!
I needed the entire month of January to get my poor brain back
into a state for composing music; the bustle of Paris had overwhelmed
it. I got down to work on 1 February; I began by sketching a little
piece, La Nuit,56 then I went on to the cantata which will be called, I
think, Le Feu du ciel. I have abandoned the idea of giving you a choice;
only the cantata is suitable for the official concerts that you are
conducting. It won't be very long because I made up my mind to have
all the first half of the poem declaimed with orchestral ritornellos. A
solo soprano and choir take care of the rest. There is a part for organ,
eight trumpets57 (but that's nothing like what I have done in this
genre); there is a grand fugal chorus, more in the style of Francois
Haendel [sic] than in that of Francois Bazin,58 which is perhaps

53 For example A la France, Op. 121 (1903), Aux aviateurs, Op. 134 (191 1), and Hail!
California (1 915).
34 Alfred Bruneau, Rapport des grandes auditions musicales, Paris, 1900, p. 52, in a brief
description of Le Feu cileste.
55Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, MS 711, signed and dated 23 February 1900 and
dedicated 'a Mr. Paul Taffanel'. The score bears pencilled metronome markings for each
section, and the rehearsal figures are the same as those in the published vocal score (Paris,
1900), whose piano reduction was by Saint-Saens himself.
36 Op. 114 (1900), for soprano, chorus and orchestra, first performed at the Concerts
Colonne on 4 November 1900.
57 The eight trumpets first appear (at Fig. 3) at the words'... and is called electricity!
38 'It has laboured, unveiling the mystery from the firmament' (Fig. 15). Francois B
(1816-78) was a composer, conductor, professor at the Paris Conservatoire and author of
Cours d'harmonie theorique et pratique (1858).

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 regrettable, but one does what one can; there is a big violin solo;39 a
long virtuoso passage in demisemiquavers for the first violins of the
orchestra;' there are to be pluckings of the harp and fierce beatings of
the tam-tam, the largest and most terrible that can be found;6' which
will not prevent the violas from indulging themselves at one point by
donning mutes (wicked fellows) while eight cellos divided into four
parts (or reunited in four parts if you prefer it) make a fuss at the
bottom of the page.62
Electric wires could be placed under the listeners' seats to give
them a violent shock at each stroke of the tam-tam; think about it! I'm
afraid you are going to find this effect a little too advanced and fin de
vingtieme siecle.
If you can have another work of mine played-which I doubt-I
suggest that it should be the Hymne a Victor Hugo,63 written, like Le Feu
du ciel, with the auditorium of the Trocadero specifically in mind.
Remember me to everyone and my very best wishes to you.
C. Saint-Saens.

A copy of the score evidently followed this letter, for Taffanel was
able to record his impression of the work and his reaction to the
dedication:

27. Taffanel to Saint-Saens, 26 March 1900

Dearest friend,
I have your letter here before me, having been unable to reply to it
yet-the fever of Paris has again completely gripped me: something I
wouldn't have believed possible only a few weeks ago.
While you were so gaily setting your cap at the beauties of Las
Palmas I was roaming in the countryside around Nice, fleeing all noise
and bustle, full of terror at the thought that I might hear a note of
music! . . . Now I have become hardened to it, I have taken up the
baton again; music no longer horrifies me; therefore I hope to be able
to cope with . . . yours!
Le Feu du ciel will kindle us all so well that the audience will thrill
without any of your mischievous devices! How can I fully explain to
you the joy that I felt on learning that you were dedicating Le Feu du
ciel to me? So often I have envied those whose names you put next to
yours-and this time you thought of me.
Your work will be to some extent mine by naming me godfather
and because I shall be the first to perform it: with all my heart I send
you my feelings of deepest gratitude.
The Commission wished to pay tribute to its President and has
placed you at the head of the first official programme.-That's as it
should be.-But . .. the date is fixed for 31 May! Will you be among
us? . . . And are we to carry on if you are not there? . . .

39 Bar 3 of Fig. 5 to bar 3 of Fig. 7.

6 From bar 1 of Fig. 4 to bar 2 of Fig. 5 there are continuous demisemiquavers in the
first violins for fifteen bars.
61 In bars 27, 36 and 45 of Fig. 25 it punctuates alternate lines of the chorus 'So many
flashes will shoot out of space'.
62 This passage is the one referred to in note 60. The cello parts are written on four
staves. Muted violas enter at bar 6 of Fig. 4, 'A gentle slave and without ire' (accompanied
recitation).
63 Op. 69 (1881), for chorus and orchestra, performed at the opening of the Paris
Exhibition on 14 April 1900.

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 Moreover the verdict is unanimous for you to open these festivities
. . . What's to be done? . . . Speak and thou shalt be obeyed.
I am looking after myself, I am treating myself carefully, so that
you will find me equal to the task; but you are right, my burden is too
heavy sometimes.
I have relinquished my orchestra class for the end of this year and
some of the flute class.
That will give me more time to devote to my labours at the
exhibition and at the Opera.
All four of us send you much love-respectfully and affectionately.
Your old and faithful friend
Paul Taffanel.

Saint-Saens returned to Paris in time to be present at the premiere

of Le Feu c6leste and to carry out various other duties as President of
the Commission des Grandes Auditions Musicales.
The revival of Henry VIII at the Ope'ra in 1903 marks the last
direct collaboration of Taffanel and Saint-Saens, although Taffanel
continued to follow with keen interest the progress of each new
work by Saint-Saens. Thus Taffanel's final letter expresses his
regret at not having been the conductor of Hle'lne (first performed in
1904) and Saint-Saens's concerns arrangements for Taffanel to
attend a performance of L'Ancetre at Monte Carlo in February
1906.64 Saint-Saens was one of the last visitors during Taffanel's
final illness in 1908, and he remained a loyal friend to Mme
Taffanel and to Marie-Camille until his own death in 1921.
Posterity has not been kind to Saint-Saens. Even during his
lifetime the new forces in French music criticized him openly.65
That at least he could not be ignored during a significant period
around the turn of the century was due in no small part to the
efforts of Paul Taffanel.

64 Correspondence, item 42, 20 January 1905; and item 43, 3 February 1906.
65 See Debussy on Music, ed. Fran,cois Lesure, trans. Richard Langham Smith, London,
1977, pp. 142-5 and 147 n. 2; also the reviews of Les Barbares, pp. 54-55, and Henry VIII, pp.
196-8.

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 APPENDIX I

(i) Works by Saint-Saens including a solo flute

Tarantelle, Op. 6 (1857), for flute, clarinet and orchestra (or piano)
Romance, Op. 37 (1871), for flute and orchestra (or piano)
'Une Flute invisible' (1885), for voice, flute and piano
'Voliere' from Le Carnaval des animaux (1886), for flute, two pianos and
string orchestra
Caprice sur des airs danois et russes, Op. 79 (1887), for flute, oboe, clarinet and
piano
'Odelette', Op. 162 (1920), for flute and orchestra (or piano)

(ii) Transcriptions by Taffanel of music by Saint-Saens; for flute and

piano unless otherwise stated. Dates are those of publication.

Pavane from Etienne Marcel (1886)

Prelude to Le Deluge, Op. 45 (1887)
Romance, Op. 51 (1887)
'Reverie du soir' from Suite alge'rienne, Op. 60 (1887)
Pavane from Proserpine (1887)
'Le Cygne' from Le Carnaval des animaux (1888)
'Feuillet d'album', Op. 81, for flute, oboe, two clarinets, two horns and
two bassoons (1888)
'Airs de ballet' from Ascanio, for flute and orchestra (or piano) (1890)

APPENDIX II

Works by Saint-Saens given by the Societe des Concerts du Conservatoire

under Taffanel during the nine seasons from 1892-3 to 1900-1901. Each
season ran from November to April and generally comprised nine
concerts. Every concert was repeated, as there were two subscription
series.*

Le Rouet d'Omphale, Op. 31 (1871) 1892-3, 1895-6, 1897-8,

1899-1900
Third Symphony, Op. 78 (1886) 1892-3, 1896-7, 1898-9,
1900-1901
Third Violin Concerto, Op. 61 (1880) 1892-3, 1895-6, 1898-9
La Lyre et la harpe, Op. 57 (1879) 1892-3, 1895-6, 1898-9
'Ave verum' (1860) 1892-3, 1893-4
Danse macabre, Op. 40 (1874) 1893-4, 1898-9
La Nuit persane, Op. 26bis (1891) 1896-7, 1900-1901
Third Piano Concerto, Op. 29 (1869) 1893-4
Fourth Piano Concerto, Op. 44 (1875) 1894-5
Le Deluge, Op. 45 (1875) 1894-5
Fifth Piano Concerto, Op. 103 (1896) 1896-7
Messe de Requiem, Op. 54 (1878) 1898-9
'Marche heroique', Op. 34 (1871) 1899-1900
First Piano Concerto, Op. 17 (1858) 1900-1901
First Violin Concerto, Op. 20 (1859) 1900-1901

* Information compiled from Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Societe des Conc

Conservatoire, programmes, 1892-1901.

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