Symphony in B flat major, Op.20

Animé - largement

Although there are more distinguished French symphonies than there are Italian and Spanish put together, France is not the richest of the great musical nations in this particular respect. A few examples spring immediately to mind - Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Bizet’s Symphony in C, Saint-Saëns’s “Organ” Symphony, Franck’s Symphony in D minor - but then you have to start thinking: there’s Dukas, Roussel of course and…… So it is difficult to understand why Chausson’s solitary but masterful Symphony in B flat is so rarely performed – even in France, where he is celebrated for his Poème for violin and orchestra and for a creative life eased by an extensive private income but ended in its prime by an unfortunately heavy fall from his bicycle.

Perhaps there is a feeling that there is room in the repertoire for only one three-movement symphony constructed according to cyclic principals and striving towards an ultimate quasi-religious affirmation in the form of a chorale. It is true that comparisons between Franck’s Symphony in D minor and Chausson’s in B flat are inevitable: although Chausson learned the basis of his art in the composition classes of Massenet at the Paris Conservatoire, his greatest inspiration after Wagner was César Franck, whose pupil he became in 1881. That much is evident within a few bars of just about everything he wrote after that time – including the Symphony in B flat, which was begun in 1889, a few months after the first performance of Franck’s Symphony in D minor, and completed in 1890.

Even so, in spite of the obvious kinship of the two works, Chausson’s is by no means a slavish imitation. In fact, it avoids the worst of the faults of the Franck, which is the repetition of the slow introduction, and it is not so painstakingly conscientious in recalling earlier themes in the last movement. Moreover, while the chromatic inflections of some of Chausson’s melodies derive from Franck’s example, his main themes are more flexible in rhythm than Franck’s and much more supple in phrasing.

The disadvantage of Chausson’s unpredictable melodic shapes is that his themes are not always easy to identify as they are introduced, developed and passed on from movement to movement. The most important theme of all is the sombre statement uttered by clarinet, horn and lower strings at the beginning of the slow introduction. The stepwise rise and fall in the first bar and the downward phrase in the second are particularly significant from the long term point of view. The eloquent first subject of the Allegro vivo – which is connected to the Lento by a surprisingly festive little flourish on violins and woodwind – begins with the downward phrase from the introductory theme on horn and bassoon. The second subject is in two parts, a cheerful pentatonic tune for woodwind and a contrastingly lyrical melody for violins. Although the Lento theme is heard again towards the end of the development on trombone, the recapitulation confirms – for the moment – the supremacy of the first subject of the Allegro vivo.

The slow movement opens in D minor with a solemnly expressive melody beginning with the stepwise rising and falling phrase from the introductory theme. There is a distinct resemblance here to the opening of the third act of Tristan und Isolde – a resemblance which is not contradicted by the early entry of the cor anglais. The central section of the movement, however, is based on a more consolatory melody introduced by cor anglais with a solo cello. Its influence brings about a radiant ending in D major.

The turbulent main theme of the last movement, though well sustained at first and recalled later, gives no idea of how the work will end. The fervent second-subject melody on the trumpet – which sounds less Franck-like when it reappears as an evocation of nature on woodwind later on – is more to the point. The end of the symphony is based, in fact, on the opening theme of the work, now transformed into a slow and serene chorale. It is introduced on the brass, repeated by strings and developed at some length before the cycle is completed by a last echo of its opening phrases on lower strings in the closing bars.