Bassoon Sonata in G Major, Op. 168

Composer: SAINT-SAËNS, Camille
  • Bassoon Sonata in G Major with piano accompaniment was one of three sonatas for woodwinds that Saint-Saëns wrote in the last year of his life (1921). In fact, this bassoon sonata may have been one of two of the composer’s final completed works. With this context, we can interpret the final movement of the sonata, “Adagio,” as a swan song of sorts.1
  • Saint-Saëns was never able to hear his bassoon sonata performed before his death; however, he was alive long enough to receive approval from the piece’s dedicatee, Léon Letellier, principal bassoonist at the Opéra.
  • Stylistically, this sonata is firmly rooted in the 19th century while the composer’s contemporaries were largely exploring more modern musical idioms.2

Sources

  1. Matthew Swann, Essay in accompanying booklet, Saint-Saëns: Music for Wind Instruments performed by Christopher Millard and Stéphane Lemelin, Naxos 0964, 2010, compact disc.
  2. Sabina Teller Ratner, Essay in accompanying booklet, Saint-Saëns: Chamber Music performed by Laurence Perkins and Michael Hancock, Hyperion 67431, 2005, compact disc.

Cut IDs

42460