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Camille Saint-Saens even wrote his share of symphonies. The only one that survives today is his third, known as the “Organ Symphony” because of its use of organ in the orchestration. He also uses two pianos, not as solo instruments, but in an obbligato role. His orchestration for this piece is quite different from his usual sound; it’s almost Wagnerian. The first three movements show how good a composer he could be when he wanted to, but the finale shows him at his least competent. For this reason, critic Jim Svedje (pronounced “SHVAY-da”) classifies it as musical trash, and Andre Previn refuses to conduct it.

The theme of the finale is useful only as a chorus for animals to sing in a movie about a pig that wants to be a sheepdog. Here is how Australian director George Miller handled it.

”Gloria” from “Babe”

About the only thing you can do with a short theme like this is state it over and over again in different forms. Beethoven could get away with this mono-thematic approach in the finale of his “Pastoral Symphony”, but Camille doesn’t have the gift to make it work. At 1:53 he tries to work it up as a fugue, but it falls apart almost immediately because the theme is the wrong shape for development as counterpoint. In fact you can barely develop it at all. At 4:00 it almost comes together, but he ends up simply restating his theme in another key and instrumental combination with the cymbals as a kind of punctuation. This is what happens when composers don’t quite know what to do with their musical material. At the end he caps it off with a slow, banal run down the C Major scale for organ. It sounds better in the movie.

Saint-Saens: Symphony #3 in C minor, Op. 78, finale

For those who want to hear three really good movements capped with one really bad finale, here is the complete piece. This is a great piece for wallerin’.

Saint-Saens: Symphony #3 in C minor, Op. 78