It was well observed by Sir Thomas Beecham (1878-1961) that The English may not like music but they love
the noise it makes and, although I am Scottish, this remark resonates with
me. I do love much classical music
but I am a complete layman, incapable of reading or playing a note. I have
become ever more conscious of the yawning gaps in my musical education and of
those composers of whose works I am sadly ignorant. I am particularly ignorant of middle to late
19th century composers, the Late Romantics; I admire Brahms, Dvorak
and Tchaikovsky, can tolerate small doses of Wagner and love Elgar and
Sibelius. Slipping through the cracks however is any appreciation of César
Franck, Camille Saint-Saëns, Anton Bruckner and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – all four,
I now realise, considerable contributors to the blessed harmony of our world.
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| Sir Thomas Beecham conducting |
This winter the wonders of modern technology will allow me to slip on my earphones, switch on my laptop, download and listen, as millions have done before me, to recordings of great performances of all the classics, all in the cosy haven of my own dwelling. Bliss! Searching for a change from my favourites Purcell, Handel and Mozart I turn to exploring the four composers above.
César Franck (1822-90) was born a
Walloon in Liège, then in the Netherlands but soon in Belgium, though he
spent most of his life in France. His domineering father was ambitious for him
and César
excelled at the Paris Conservatoire as a pianist. He broke with his father when
he married the daughter of an acting family. His early compositions were badly
received and he became a poorly paid organist at various Parisian churches,
latterly at St Clotilde and yet with his cherished Cavaillé-Coll
organ, he revitalised French organ playing and added to its repertoire, notably
with his Trois Chorals.
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| Cesar Franck composing for the organ |
His 1888 D Minor
Symphony, he only wrote one, is much admired for its vigour and
melodiousness as is his Violin Sonata.
His communion anthem Panis Angelicus (what
Beecham would call a “Lollipop”) is a popular favourite among the
tender-hearted and is much sung by Irish tenors and College choirs. Franck
pushed at some musical barriers with his complex polyphony and his Wagnerian
influences; he became a revered teacher at the Conservatoire and a prominent
flag-bearer for French music after the 1871 Franco-Prussian war.
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921), a proud Parisian,
was a leading figure of the French musical establishment and effortlessly rose
to be regarded as the greatest French composer of his time. He was born with
perfect pitch and was a child prodigy at the piano on a par with Mozart. His
first public concert was given at the age of 10 and his output was prolific - symphonies,
concertos, chamber music, operas, oratorios and sacred music flowing from his
highly efficient, if not always stretchingly creative, pen.
Saint-Saëns at the piano in about 1910
He is best known for his suite The Carnival of the Animals, his
3rd “Organ” Symphony, the
2nd Piano Concerto and the
Danse Macabre. He wrote three excellent cello concertos and it was perhaps
at a rehearsal of one of these that Thomas Beecham rebuked an under-performing
lady soloist in these indelicate terms: Madame,
you have between your legs an instrument capable of giving pleasure to
thousands and all you do is scratch it!
Saint-Saëns had championed Brahms as against
Wagner and had not embraced Modernism in the controversies of the time: he was
latterly considered a reactionary by some – I would warmly sympathise with the
gifted Frenchman on this issue.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVCvJZtzkqQ Saint-Saëns 2nd Piano Concerto
Anton Bruckner
(1824-96) was such an odd-ball personally that this gets in the way of
appreciating his music. Born in Linz, Austria, he was physically
unprepossessing and wholly lacking in self-esteem and confidence. His
inferiority complex led him to change the scores of his works constantly if
they were criticised, so definitive versions are elusive, creating what
musicologists call The Bruckner Problem. He hero-worshipped Wagner in
the most obsequious manner. His inability to find a wife led him to stalk adolescent girls. A pious Catholic, Bruckner is much associated with
the St Florian Monastery near Linz, where he was organist and composed sacred
music in inspiring surroundings. His friend, Gustav Mahler, described him as Half simpleton, half God.
He created 11 symphonies – the 4th (the Romantic)
and the 7th being particularly admired for their harmonic language,
his orchestrations in the style of Wagner and his structure following
Beethoven. Their length is noteworthy,
perhaps an influence from Mahler, one of whose symphonies a wit dubbed The Interminable! Bruckner also produced
a large body of sacred music, motets, masses, Te Deums etc. His music was
judged particularly German and it was usurped and glorified by the Nazis who
played the solemn but undeniably impressive Adagio from the 7th
Symphony on the radio to mark the fall of Stalingrad and the death of Hitler.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjJprIS4zQE
Adagio from the 7th Symphony by Bruckner
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| Anton Bruckner |
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| Bruckner's organ at St Florian, Linz |
Nikolai
Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) was a largely self-taught composer, born into a
naval family East of St Petersburg. He went to naval college, but his talent
for music soon manifested itself, even though he pursued a naval career until
the 1880s. He became a founder of The Five, a group of brilliant nationalist
composers admiring Glinka, comprising their leader and mentor Balakirev,
Borodin, Mussorgsky, Cesar Cui and Rimsky-Korsakov. They enjoyed the
encouragement of Tchaikovsky and embodied Russian folk-songs and rhythms in
their work. Western traditions and themes were not neglected and
Rimsky-Korsakov joined a course at the Conservatoire at St Petersburg to catch
up on his formal musical education. The orchestrations of Rimsky-Korsakov
helped create a distinctive Russian School: He wrote a substantial body of work
including 15 operas but is best known for his orchestral suites Scheherazade (1889), describing the
Arabian Nights, Capriccio Espagnol,
with lively Spanish themes, and The
Russian Easter Festival Overture,
incorporating tunes from the Orthodox liturgy. His Beechamesque “lollipop” The Flight of the Bumble-bee (1899) is
from one of his Oriental operas.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh6mDL-VwYw
Capriccio Espagnol by Rimsky-Korsakov
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| Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov |
It is always difficult to write about music – to describe the inexpressible. It is doubly difficult when the writer has scant expertise and only “knows what he likes”. My tastes are conservative and yet I cannot support Beecham’s jibe when asked if he had conducted Stockhausen No, I have not conducted any, but I once trod on some! Innovation and experiment must be encouraged in music as in most other spheres. My four composers will surely reward further study.
SMD
3.11.16
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2016
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