The other day I came across a quotation by Hector Berlioz, about a fellow composer he admired, though not unreservedly: 'Saint-Saëns knows everything, but he lacks inexperience.'
I don't know enough of Saint-Saëns's work to judge how fair that is, but I think I know what he's getting at – a certain facility, as if his range, versatility and all-embracing omnicompetence made it all too easy for him. Saint-Saëns's compositional mastery seems to have came to him fully formed; it was not something he had to grope his way towards, and there is little sense of struggle, or indeed of risk, in his work. To make matters worse for the rest of us, he was also a child prodigy (who could play any of the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas from memory at the age of 10), and became an accomplished writer, critic, poet and dramatist.
I wonder if there are writers of whom we could also say that they know everything but lack inexperience. I guess Milton and Pope might be candidates, both seeming to arrive in this world with a perfect mastery of their art, which never faltered, and a compositional ease that enabled them to create a mighty body of work. Maybe Dryden is another case? Anyone else?
Saturday 19 October 2024
Lacking Inexperience
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In painting, I think that many cite Raphael as suffering that lack.
ReplyDeleteSpot on, George – he's a perfect case.
DeleteAlthough I didn't know it at the time, as I was still in short trousers, my life-long fascination with music was vivified by Camille Saint-Saens in the shape of the short, but masterful, Danse Macabre. How was it possible, I mused, to tell an interesting story, without words, in seven minutes? It was much later that I learned of the composer's 'emotional inhibition', which can be heard, through the brilliance, in almost everything he wrote. It was all too easy. A clue lies in an early quote of his: "I compose music as a tree produces apples"
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, his music is nothing if not effective, and something like the Danse Macabre is just the thing when you're finding your way into classical music. I have a suspicion that Saint-Saens might be another composer whose later chamber music might have more appeal to the ageing me than the orchestral stuff. I haven't heard much of it though – any thoughts, Michael?
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