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Oboe Sonata (Saint-Saëns)Camille Saint-Saëns'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 (Op. 167) and the Bassoon Sonata (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."[1] The piece is dedicated to Louis Bas, first solo oboe with the Societé du Conservatoire de l'Opéra. StructureIt 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.[2] 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.[3] References
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