Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (; 9 October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano C ...

's Oboe Sonata in D major, Op. 166 was composed in 1921, the year of the composer's death. This sonata is the first of the three sonatas that Saint-Saëns composed for wind instruments, the other two being the

Clarinet Sonata A clarinet sonata is piece of music in sonata form for clarinet, often with piano accompaniment. The Clarinet Sonatas by Brahms are of special significance in the development of the clarinet repertoire. Several important transcriptions are also p ...

(Op. 167) and the

Bassoon Sonata A bassoon sonata is a larger-scale work for bassoon, usually with keyboard accompaniment. Most bassoon sonatas are substantial, multi-movement works, often based on Classical sonata form. Bassoon sonatinas, by comparison, tend to be shorter works ...

(Op. 168), written the same year. These works were part of Saint-Saëns's efforts to expand the repertoire for instruments for which hardly any solo parts were written, as he confided to his friend Jean Chantavoine in a letter dated to 15 April 1921: "At the moment I am concentrating my last reserves on giving rarely considered instruments the chance to be heard." The piece is dedicated to Louis Bas, first solo oboe with the ''Societé du Conservatoire de l'Opéra''.

Structure

It is written in three movements: The movements are not ordered according to the traditional fast-slow-fast sonata system. The tempo of the movements increases successively. The first movement, ''Andantino'', is music of a pastoral kind, in ternary form ABA. The opening theme of the oboe solo is an echo of the Westminster Quarters. The core of the second movement is a Romance, marked ''Allegretto''. It is preceded by an introduction and followed by an epilogue. The introduction and epilogue are marked ''ad libitum'' - that is, the performer is free to choose the tempo considered most appropriate. The last movement, titled ''Molto allegro'', short and brilliant, has passages of great difficulty and virtuosity.

References

External links

* * , performed by Francesco Di Rosa and Akanè Makita {{DEFAULTSORT:Oboe Sonata (Saint-Saens) Chamber music by Camille Saint-Saëns S S 1921 compositions Compositions in D major Music with dedications