From Richard Wagner to a Personal Style: The Operatic Legacy in the Articles of Camille Saint-Saëns
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Abstract
The articles about music published in France at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the
20th century present immense opportunities for research and analysis of this most abundant period
of the history of musical culture. Of particular interest are the publications of Camille Saint-Saëns,
who imprinted the evaluations of his operatic compositions. On the one hand, they allow us to
glance at the process of musical creativity from the position of the author, and on the other hand,
they provide aid during an analysis of the formation of the composer’s aesthetic principles. The
literary legacy of Saint-Saëns is vast and consists of over 500 articles published during the course
of fifty years of his artistic path. The present work examines the composer’s publications devoted
to his operas in the context of the influence of Wagner and his system of leitmotifs. Fragments of
the composer’s articles dealing with his operas “Samson et Dalila” (1877) and “Hélène” (1904) are
discussed. In his late works, Saint-Saëns examines the limitations of Wagner’s system in connection
with his opera works. He contemplates creating his personal style developing Wagner’s techniques
but gravitating towards a lighter type of orchestration for the sake of highlighting the vocal part and
giving it the most prominence.
The reported study was funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) according
to the research project No. 18-312-00195.
Keywords: Camille Saint-Saëns, Richard Wagner, the opera legacy of Saint-Saëns, Wagner and
Saint-Saëns, “La Princesse jaune,” “Samson et Dalila,” “Hélène.”
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References
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4. Ratner S. Richard Wagner and Camille Saint-Saëns. Opera Quarterly. 1983. Vol. 1. No. 3, pp. 101–113.
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9. Saint-Saëns C. Samson et Dalila: lettre de Saint-Saëns à un critique musical, La Tribune de Genéve, 1892. Soret M.-G. Ecrits sur la musique et les musiciens 1870–1921. Paris: Vrin – Musicologies, 2012, pp. 449–450.
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