Music for Fifth Sunday in Lent

Camille Saint-Saëns is fabled to be one of the first to storm out of the premiere of Stravinsky’s Le sacre du printemps after the first movement’s opening, muttering under his breath; “if that is a basson, then I am a baboon!” However fabricated this anecdote may be, it attests that his musical reputation in early twentieth-century Paris upheld his image as a figurehead of conservative musical style: a man who deeply respected classical forms yet stayed in touch with the contemporary ideals of his time (at least enough to have bought a ticket to young Igor’s ballet!). At a time when the Paris conservatory began to emphasize studies of Wagner and Debussy above more archaic, classical repertories, Saint-Saëns was a lifelong student of the musical language of Bach, Handel, and Mozart.

Saint-Saëns’s relationship with church music was both professional and personal. He began his career as a church organist at Saint-Merri and later at La Madeleine, where his virtuosity on the organ earned him acclaim, including praise from Franz Liszt. His early exposure to sacred music and his role as an organist deeply influenced his compositional style, particularly in works like his Third Symphony (the “Organ Symphony”) and his Requiem. However, his relationship with the church was complex; while he engaged with Catholicism and spirituality his entire life, he eventually left his post at La Madeleine due to dissatisfaction with church bureaucracy. His motet Ave verum, sung by the lower voices at communion today, depicts the personal side of his engagement with his beliefs, a reverent and serene setting of the communion text Ave verum corpus, honouring the Blessed Sacrament.

Abraham Ross

Solemn Mass takes place at St. James’ Anglican Church, Vancouver at 10:30 am every Sunday.