The Correspondence of Camille Saint-Saens and Gabriel Faure: Sixty Years of Friendship

This English edition of Jean-Michel Nectoux’s collection of the complete correspondence of Saint-Saens and Faure features some 130 letters spanning the period from 1862-1920. Immensely significant to the study of French music, these letters throw light upon one of the longest-surviving friendships between two composers in the history of music. They also contain frank exchanges of views on such topics as the music of Wagner, Berlioz, Debussy, Franck and others, the state of musical education in France, and other important artistic figures of fin de siecle Paris including Puvis de Chavannes, Rodin and Fremiet. Barrie Jones’s skilful translation of this important body of correspondence captures the often playful, casual, but always stimulating language of both composers. These letters are frequently the sole source for dating certain compositions or discovering projects that were started but then abandoned. They constitute a primary source for appreciation of Saint-Saens’s and Faure’s compositions, opinions, and working practices.