Camille Saint-Saens - Symphony in F Major

3rd movement (will turn in solfege for this) -has this great slide from do to le back to do, and a recurring ominous do-reme-do sol.. It's in minor and believe it to be in a sort of compound ternary. Because this first section ends with a big loud cadence, then a softer cadential echo. Then new material starts on the violin and eventually, the theme is repeated, but it goes through a lot of development, keys, and starts to function different melodically. Instead of a sort of passacaglia feel like it had, it moves around and functions as a motive generating more and more melodic material which then in turn moves and adds momentum to the middle section. This middle section then returns to the light major stuff again at about 6 minutes (like a ternary within a ternary). This leads to a HC that leads back into the last reprise of the original theme. Upon reflection, maybe it's more rondo-ish. I really like it. It's a long movement too. I like its darkness, a sort of poise in its dirge-march rhythms--like someone walking to the executioner's block. But that slide makes me think of traditional villains, which is fun also. Then you have those sweet moments of hope and distraction to give it spice. I was pleased with this movement, especially since I didn't really like his 1st symphony or the one in A very much. His first symphony's last movement is almost seven and a half straight minutes of cadential action. Sol do sol do, do ti do ti do...(now he moves the ti do around, but still) This was more interesting. I don't mind repeated stuff if it really gets me. And the nice thing, is that the fourth movement isn't too bright, it has moments of tension, moments of lightness, and its energy compliments well this third movement. The fourth also moves more and I think gets more variety--which is just what the ear needs after the constant repetition in the third.