Bizet's Suppressed Symphony by Howard Shanet

Bizet's Suppressed Symphony
Author(s): Howard Shanet

Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Oct., 1958), pp. 461-476
Published by: Oxford University Press
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BIZET'S SUPPRESSED SYMPHONY
By HOWARD SHANET
B IZET wrote his Symphony in C in 1855, but its very existence was
not generally known until 1933 and it did not receive its first
performance until 1935 - eighty years after it was written.
Why did Bizet never have it performed while he was alive? Why did
he not have it published? Why did he never even mention this astonish-
ing work, written when he was only seventeen years old, and favorably
compared by all the critics and biographers of today with the accomplish-
ments of Mozart, Schubert, and Mendelssohn at the same age? Why did
his widow, who survived him by many years (she died in 1926), forbid
the performance and publication of the symphony?
This paper proposes an answer to these questions. Perhaps the sim-

plest way to explain the answer is to retrace the line of thought that led
to it.
The historical background of the case can be filled in quickly. The

"discovery" of the symphony was announced in 1933 by Jean Chanta-
voine in an article in the periodical Le Me'nestrel.1 He described in some
detail the original manuscript in the Library of the Paris Conservatory
and quoted the principal themes in musical notation. But nothing was
done about it until D. C. Parker of Glasgow called the attention of the
conductor, Felix Weingartner, to the work. Weingartner gave the first
performance in Basel in 1935, and the symphony was an immediate
success. It was promptly published,2 it was played in all the principal
1 Quelques inddits de Georges Bizet, in Le Menestrel, Aug. 4, 1933.
SVienna, Universal-Edition, 1935. The published score has been needlessly
changed from Bizet's original in a few details. The most conspicuous instance occurs
in the kettledrums, which are asked in the printed score (but not in the autograph
manuscript) to play six different notes in the course of the first movement alone.
This would have been physically impossible on most drums in Bizet's time, and it
is in any case completely out of style with the neat and conservative orchestration
of the rest of the score.
461
462 The Musical Quarterly
cities of the world, it was recorded many times, a
was set to it by George Balanchine.
As a by-product of all this interest the symphon
described by dozens of critics, musicologists, biogr
annotators. Beginning with Chantavoine, they all a
phony was "reminiscent of" or "influenced by" vari
but no two agreed as to which older composers. In f
to assign a different paternity to each movement. C
Beethoven in the second movement and Haydn
was for "Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, an
but perhaps to avoid offending anyone by oversigh
Schubert for the second movement and Haydn for
heard both Mozart and Beethoven in the first mov
"patently" in the second, and Haydn in the last; on
that "it has Brahmsian traits here and there," th
dead before Brahms's first symphony appeared in
Confronted by such disagreement among the expe

was forced to start with a clean slate. If one listen
ears, the striking characteristic of the piece was not
there sounded like Beethoven or Mozart, but that so
like dance music. This was no accident, of course
musical world of Bizet's boyhood the paramount
not the symphony, and the French opera was char
phasis on ballet. The young Bizet had constantly in
music of his teachers, Gounod and Halivy, and o
Auber, Rossini, Meyerbeer, and Offenbach.
Nevertheless, in the midst of this predominantly

ment, Bizet had written a symphony. And a gifted
one with leanings towards the theater, was not like
music as his actual model in writing a symphony.
gested that he must have been encouraged to write
specific example in the symphonic form.
The next logical step in the investigation, the

whether any of the composers mentioned above as
3Op. cit.
4 Paul Stefan, Georges Bizet, Zurich, 1952, p. 55.
b Martin Cooper, Georges Bizet, New York, 1938, p. 2.
6 Ernst Hartmann, Georges Bizet - ein Leben fiir die Oper, in Das Musikleben,
April 1948, p. 75.
Bizet's Suppressed Symphony 463
on the seventeen-year-old Bizet had written a symphony sho
he wrote his in 1855.
It took very little research to reveal that his teacher and friend
Gounod, had written such a symphony, which received its first perform
ance about nine months before Bizet wrote the Symphony in C.
The first glance at the score of Gounod's Symphony No. 1, in D

major' made it clear that the young Bizet had copied all its most con
spicuous features in his Symphony in C. Although this was true to some
extent of all four movements, it was especially noticeable in the second
and third of them. A minor mystery: why should these two movements
have made a deeper impression on the young man than the rest of the
work? Imagine the satisfaction of discovering from contemporary ac-
counts that at the first performance of the Gounod symphony on Feb-
ruary 4, 1855, it was only the two middle movements that were played
This is not to accuse Bizet of plagiarism. The future composer of

Carmen and L'Arldsienne was already capable of inventing as good
melody as any man and he did not have to borrow such material from
Gounod. What he did imitate very closely in his teacher's work was the
structural plan, the way in which the piece was put together. Man
teachers of musical composition actually require their students, in writin
their first large works, to build them by imitating a model from the hand
of an older master. It is this sort of imitation that one finds in the Bizet
symphony.
A complete comparison of the two works is not possible here, but the
most important points of correspondence can be cited.
In Gounod's second movement, for example, the section that seemed

most striking to the Paris public of 1855 was the development, which is
in the shape of a little fugue based on the opening theme of the move-
ment. All the critics commented favorably on it. Now Bizet not only
writes a fugue for the development section of his second movement; he
even has the instruments enter in the same order.
7 Colombier, Paris, 1855. As a result of the revival of the work on December 3,

1955, by the Columbia University Orchestra conducted by the author of this paper,
the score and parts have been published by E. F. Kalmus, Inc., of New York (1955).
Another happy consequence of this revival was the creation by George Balanchine
of a new ballet, entitled Gounod Symphony, which had its premiere at the New
York City Center on January 8, 1958. A complete set of parts and a score were
prepared especially for the Columbia University performance by the Fleisher Music
Collection of the Philadelphia Free Library, where they are now deposited.
Ex. I a Allegre+o moderalo vn..I

Gounod
Vin.I
....... .... . ,,
/ * * > , * * * * * *
8 Although the tempo marking in the usual place is Adagio, the mo

bears the superscription "2. Andante." In the composer's MS each movem
such a numbered superscription or title, but they have been omitted in th
score. Whether they are actually in Bizet's hand, it is difficult to determ
the microfilm copy of the MS with which the present writer has worked. E
the microfilm, however, it seems clear that for the last movement both th
marking and the superscription were added by another hand.
r; ? ? r ..?
Vln.l ' "'' .
P ..r ? ? ? ? ?
r yc(n r
?r ? ?
???r?r?????. r C~
t .Y
r ? ? i/
?
r , ?I?? ??? ?_l?~t ?.1? ? ? ? ? ?
..5 ??.
Notice, too, the s

"on tiptoe," as it
blances. Even th
alike; this can be
for a moment:
Lx. 2
Gounod
Bizt~
Moreover, when Gounod brings his first theme back in the recapitulation
section of the movement, he accompanies it with running passages de-
rived from the fugue; Bizet does the same.
Ex. 3a "l" - . . ? ..
Gounod
t,, ? - ' l
Ilk
Bizet.
Ob*
Bie
? , ",- ,. ,. . . .. ... . 1 [' ,t - "

r r' v. +" ' " " r ,., ".. -? - . ..
,; , , ' -,. . .. ..
Gounod omits his long second theme in the recapit
follows suit. Bizet's perceptive biographer, Winton
this movement of the Symphony in C, points out a
sage" a slowly descending chromatic scale over a
VVni Uin.]I
dr r *
._ - - p
Ex.
! c4-J .. ..... .
b ;,.-.
-
7'8: Y , --
Exn rin
"This device," he says, "was to become characteristic of t
Bizet . . . It formed a part of his musical personality from t
years."g Dean is correct about Bizet's using the idea for the r
life. It must now be added, however, that he learned it from
who had presented the same device, on practically the sam
measure 117 of his slow movement (Ex. 4b).
The most noticeable features of Gounod's Scherzo (third m

are the droning bass in its Trio
Ex. 5a [Trio] . ---

Non tropo resto
Gounood, ' j .
C. * , $ is - $
and the fact that the melody

Scherzo instead of being crea
E. u b [SchrwJ,-.
Gounod
?el. q
Bizet borrows both ideas.
[Schelrzo]
SFl.,Ob.CI.Vr.Vin. 1 +n.
Bize'r
f la., Bsn. 8"M lower
But the first and last movements are not lacking in such corres-
g Winton Dean, Bizet, London, 1948, p. 100-07.
pondences, either. In fact, it is startling to find at least two
Bizet's first movement that are almost note for note the same
in Gounod's first movement, rhythmically, melodically, and har
although the two composers developed them from differen
Compare what Bizet derives from his theme at measure 86 wi
Gounod derives from his at measure 119.
Ex. 6 a Allegro vivo +w.w.
P -;t- f f P
vp - j
b Allegtro moi
Cbn.
V~Cb. vc.
cb= i t) =r_ , e t .. . .
The second correspondence, also nearly note for note, begins at measure
141 in the Bizet score and measure 331 in the Gounod.
Ex. 7a . l.
.B=L zF" - " -L L-LLL

i. t;I
llt i ,ii
,, 1 f lowStr, r. I
Brassr
Timp
b . 4.1 =L=L
Timp..
f ~Brass
Timp. J"
In general, however, it is not in such details but in the a
plan of the movement that Bizet borrows from the olde
Thus Gounod ends his first movement abruptly with the
announcement with which he began it, framing the movem
two epigrams, as it were:
Ex. 8a Moven~en~begsin rinds ,- .( ?

Gounodfl Tutdf ' (Pi~u.).
Movemet n+ uds:
Bizet adapts the idea to his own first movement:
Ex. 8 b Mavcmur, bginr:s . . r Vl V
'_ 8i # i e a .. 8 8 t a ? ,]' -
Uovimcn! end!, VI.,li.tui
g' ' d
Similarly, at the end of the
est recognizable fragment
"probably the shortest co
repeating the amusing tri
ment.
Ex. g9 a Movement ends:

Allegro vivace 10 Taken fron b inning of theme:
WW:t2 E Tu ~ .. .. .
" 5tr
b
Movement ends: Taken from beginning of theme:
Gounod Winds P
, Y~
The final movements of the two sy
alike in several respects. It is true th
slow introduction which has no coun
a little more of the coda, but other
Each has a busily playful first secti
a march-like bridge which brings fo
second theme; and a long and exube
scales, arpeggios, and trill-like figures.
These parallelisms indicate that Bi

with Gounod's symphony before he
circumstantial evidence to support t
The manuscript of Bizet's sympho

1855; finished November [number i
in D had its first performance on F
Society of Young Artists of the Par
cated to the Society, and Bizet was a
time. Only the slow movement an
occasion but they had such a huge su
formed by the same organization
month. Parts of it were performed
1855, and the whole symphony was
The full score, moreover, was publ

September 1, 1855. This meant that
1o See note 8.
from the printed page, as well as heard in live performance. I
a four-hand piano arrangement of the score was issued by the
in 1855. The arranger was Georges Bizet!
In short, Bizet had many opportunities to hear and study t

symphony.
The very size of the orchestra employed by Bizet in the Sym

C is further evidence of Gounod's influence. Gounod had chosen to work
with a small orchestra of classic proportions, excluding such "extreme"
instruments as the piccolo, the trombones, the tuba, and the harp. In the
age of Berlioz and Meyerbeer this was hardly usual. Even the conserva-
tive Saint-Sains used the whole orchestral apparatus in the finale of his
Symphony No. 1, which also dates from 1855. When Bizet was left to
his own devices he liked as large an orchestra as any of his contemporaries
(an unpublished overture dating from about the same time as the Sym-
phony in C includes piccolo, trombones, and ophicleide in its scoring),
but in his symphony he followed exactly the moderate example of his
admired teacher, Gounod.
Finally, the relationship between the two men was very close at this
time. When Gounod could not be present to take the piano part in the
premiere of his Deux vieux amis on April 23, 1855, he sent "his child
Bizet" in his place; and in the same year the young Bizet was listed as
author of the piano reduction of Gounod's opera, La Nonne sanglante.u
All this does not deny that the influence of other composers, espe-
cially Mendelssohn, may be perceptible in the score. The buzzing opening
of the last movement, to cite only one case, is not far in style from the
opening of the Midsummer Night's Dream Overture. Mendelssohn had
been a favorite with Parisian audiences for some years; his Midsummer
Night's Dream music and his Walpurgis-Night were played every season
at the concerts of the Conservatory or of the Saint Cecilia Society -
sometimes more than once in a season - and the Italian Symphony was
well known, too.12 But even the influence of Mendelssohn and other
German composers was intensified through Gounod, who had been intro-
" Paris, Choudens, 28 July, 1855 (cited in J.-G. Prod'homme, Gounod, sa vie
et ses ceuvres, Paris, 1911, II, 256).
12 See the records of concert programs given in Antoine Elwart, Histoire de la
Socidtd des Concerts du Conservatoire Impirial de Musique, Paris, 1860.
duced to much of the greatest German music by M
and his sister Fanny.
That Bizet was exposed to the music of Halkvy

period of his life follows not only from his studies
where Halivy was his teacher and Auber the dir
frequency with which their music was being played
but also from his school exercises on subjects of Hal
of them dating from about 1854, which are preser
the Conservatory.13
A case could be made out, too, for Rossini, Meye

bach, all powerful names in the musical world of m
* *~
What led Bizet to wr

stances, a young compos
in the Paris of a hundr
the early days of his ca
is only one road for a c
operatic stage ... Religio
in the strictest sense, t
distinction in that high
occasional audience, no
going public.""'
It was "to console him

his opera La Nonne san
own first symphony. It
The Scherzo was encore
within a single season
Escudier, Paul Smith, J
Adam, himself a respect
nationalistic pride as a c
field: "This new comp
symphonist, and it wou
able to oppose a music
13 Jean Chantavoine, Que
11, 1933; and A. Gastout~, in
14 Charles Gounod, Aut
Hutchinson), London, 1896.
divagations of what is called the modern German School."'5 G
so encouraged that he began a second symphony immediately
movement of it was promptly performed by the Orchestra of
of Young Artists on April 1, 1855, with the same gratifying r
had been accorded its predecessor. Gounod may have been
the theater just then, but he was enjoying a thrilling s
symphonist.
It is easy to understand how Gounod's triumph might have

any young French composer of 1855 towards symphonic
this must have been especially true for his pupil and "son,"
admiration for Gounod was then at its peak. Even a few year
1859, Bizet still could say of Gounod: "How happily one
the influence of his warm imagination." For, as Winton Dean
"Gounod was not only one of his teachers but during the im
years of adolescence his friend and father confessor."'6
Even Bizet's most sympathetic biographers agree, more

there was a certain opportunistic element in his attitude
work. His correspondence and his actions reveal it. "He was l
led astray," writes Dean, "by his own failures and other
cesses. His early friendship with Gounod, the rising star of F
cal life in the 'sixties, led him to overrate Gounod's genius a
him into the unsuitable realm of grand opera, which ove
Gounod and might have done the same for Bizet but for the i
of opposing factors.""7 But he also followed Gounod into the
the symphony, with considerable success for both of them.
Finally, the possibility must not be neglected that Gou

actually have required Bizet to write the symphony after his
a student's assignment or exercise.
Why did Bizet suppress the symphony? In 1938, when

anniversary of Bizet's birth was being observed in Paris, the
Musicologie devoted its entire November issue to him. In
the following official statement by the representative of the
firm of Choudens:
On the Subject of the Symphony in C of Bizet

Antoine de Choudens, founder of the firm of Choudens, and Bizet's publisher,
15xs J.-G. Prod'homme, Gounod, sa vie et ses euvres, Paris, 1911, I, 161-64.
16 Winton Dean, Introduction to the Music of Bizet, London, 1950, p. 12.
'7 Ibid., p. 57.
had in his hands the Symphony, work of the youth of the c
if he never published it, it was because Bizet was opposed t
introduced into Don Procopio 18 a fragment of the Symphon
him to be suitable for this theater work. The latter has sinc
1905 by the firm of Choudens.
Furthermore, the widow of Georges Bizet, respectful of he

confirmed to the firm of Choudens the desire expressed by the
CHEVRIER-CHOUDENS
This explanation simply will not hold water. In the

above-mentioned fragment from the symphony which
Procopio is only a small part of one theme of one m
composer at one time or another has used such quotati
works without any sense of embarrassment. Indeed, Biz
about using parts of this same Don Procopio in two of
(Les Picheurs de perles and La jolie fille de Perth)
Choudens had no qualms about publishing them.
The probable reason for Bizet's unwillingness to p

phony in C should be evident in the light of our invest
apparently sensitive about his imitation of certain fea
Symphony in D. The very success of Gounod's piece, w
stimulated the young man to copy some of its methods
deterred him from having his own symphony perform
For it must be remembered that the Gounod symphony
the most famous French works of its kind, and that Bi
from it precisely those features that everyone else
admired.
At a later period in his life, moreover, he developed something like a

fear of being dominated by Gounod's personality and style. Four years
after the composition of the Symphony in C he dropped the idea of
writing a Don Quixote, in which he had been interested, when he read
in a paper that Gounod was working at the same idea. At about the
same time he wrote in a letter: "Gounod is essentially an original com-
poser: if one imitates him one can only remain in the position of a
pupil."'9 Much later, in 1873, Bizet wrote Gounod that he had felt
anxiety about his musical personality being absorbed by Gounod's.20
18 The opera that Bizet wrote in 1858-59, during his stay in Italy as Prix de
Rome winner.
19 Martin Cooper, Georges Bizet, New York, 1938, p. 12.

20 Winton Dean, Bizet, London, 1948, p. 81.
I
~ { 'L~
~ ~
_ e4~i
t ~
Courtesy of the Bib

First Page of the Aut
Whether Bizet's widow was aware of all this or whether she
accepted without question the composer's desire to withhold th
phony in C is not clear. Perhaps she considered it a student work
was not likely to add luster to his name. At any rate, although s
of the existence of the symphony (as is indicated in the Chouden
ment, given above), she did not mention it in the list of Bizet'
including "works destroyed or not completed" - which sh
expressly for D. C. Parker's biography of Bizet,2' issued in 1926
year of her life.
Bizet undoubtedly was right, from a practical viewpoint, in

holding his Symphony in C in his own day. For the same critics
singled out Gounod's fugue and Scherzo for their highest prais
certainly have pounced cruelly upon Bizet's imitation of them.
resemblance actually is confined for the most part to the trim
the musical structure, but the trimmings are the first things n
most cases. Have not the critics and commentators of our o
although unaware of the resemblance to the Gounod symphony
theless singled out the same points for discussion in the Bizet sy
Yet, from an artistic viewpoint, Bizet did himself a great in

which fortunately has been rectified by the revival of his sym
and its addition to the repertory. He took from Gounod on
devices pertaining to form, and he filled them with new life.
that the Gounod symphony is better integrated and more mast
wrought; but it is equally true that Bizet's is more vital a
brilliant.
In the sheer joy of making music Bizet expanded everything he had

borrowed: each of his movements is much longer than the correspond-
ing one of Gounod. Gounod's little fugue consists chiefly of a rather
Ex. IO Ob.
Str. 'P
.p
s2 Georges Bizet: His Life and Works, New York,
formal exposition; Bizet's adds a whole set of strettos writt
natural manner. Gounod uses a rustic drone-bass in his
colors it with a bit of local realism by actually reproducin
scale of a bagpipe (Ex. 10). And the melodies - they si
in the most original way in every movement of this prec
In following his model, Bizet did not lose his own persona

Bizet&#39;s Suppressed Symphony by Howard Shanet

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Bizet's Suppressed Symphony

Author(s): Howard Shanet

This paper proposes an answer to these questions. Perhaps the sim-

The historical background of the case can be filled in quickly. The

Confronted by such disagreement among the expe

Nevertheless, in the midst of this predominantly

The next logical step in the investigation, the

The first glance at the score of Gounod's Symphony No. 1, in D

This is not to accuse Bizet of plagiarism. The future composer of

In Gounod's second movement, for example, the section that seemed

7 Colombier, Paris, 1855. As a result of the revival of the work on December 3,

Ex. I a Allegre+o moderalo vn..I

8 Although the tempo marking in the usual place is Adagio, the mo

Notice, too, the s

? , ",- ,. ,. . . .. ... . 1 [' ,t - "

The most noticeable features of Gounod's Scherzo (third m

Ex. 5a [Trio] . ---

and the fact that the melody

Bizet borrows both ideas.

f la., Bsn. 8"M lower

Ex. 6 a Allegro vivo +w.w.

.B=L zF" - " -L L-LLL

Ex. 8a Moven~en~begsin rinds ,- .( ?

Bizet adapts the idea to his own first movement:

Ex. 8 b Mavcmur, bginr:s . . r Vl V

Ex. g9 a Movement ends:

These parallelisms indicate that Bi

The manuscript of Bizet's sympho

The full score, moreover, was publ

In short, Bizet had many opportunities to hear and study t

The very size of the orchestra employed by Bizet in the Sym

That Bizet was exposed to the music of Halkvy

A case could be made out, too, for Rossini, Meye

What led Bizet to wr

It was "to console him

It is easy to understand how Gounod's triumph might have

Even Bizet's most sympathetic biographers agree, more

Finally, the possibility must not be neglected that Gou

Why did Bizet suppress the symphony? In 1938, when

On the Subject of the Symphony in C of Bizet

Furthermore, the widow of Georges Bizet, respectful of he

This explanation simply will not hold water. In the

The probable reason for Bizet's unwillingness to p

At a later period in his life, moreover, he developed something like a

19 Martin Cooper, Georges Bizet, New York, 1938, p. 12.

Courtesy of the Bib

Bizet undoubtedly was right, from a practical viewpoint, in

Yet, from an artistic viewpoint, Bizet did himself a great in

In the sheer joy of making music Bizet expanded everything he had

s2 Georges Bizet: His Life and Works, New York,

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