You would not place an elderly Camille Saint-Saëns as an innovator, creating a work with a part for contrabass trombone. Yet this is precisely what happened during the First World War, as the composer was commissioned to travel to the United States of America to represent France.
Nearing his 80th birthday, Camille Saint-Saëns was selected by the French government to represent France as “First Delegate to the Franco-American Commission for the Development of Political, Economic, Literary, and Artistic Relations” for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, California. This exposition was created to mark the opening of the Panama Canal and Saint-Saëns was contracted to give lectures, conduct concerts of his music, and also compose a new work for the occasion.
Saint-Saëns was already a seasoned traveller, so he boarded the Rochambeau for a dangerous crossing of the Atlantic Ocean during the First World War. German submarines were active in the Atlantic at the time, and indeed the sinking of the Lusitania occurred on 7 May 1915. The British ocean liner was torpedoed by a German U-boat (U-20) off the coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 passengers and crew. This event contributed to shifting public opinion against Germany and was a factor in the United States eventually entering the war in 1917.
The Rochambeau safely arrived in mid-May and Saint-Saëns disembarked in New York City before continuing his westward journey. On 22 May 1915 the San Francisco Chronicle reported: “The most exciting part of the concert — the Boston Symphony Orchestra had performed an all-French program — was the unannounced and modest guest of honor.”
Saint-Saëns had a sound grasp of what he was expected to do for the intended composition. According to the composer himself, he sought to evoke California’s “land of flowers, the bustle of the fair, the melodies of Spanish settlers, and simultaneously the pioneer labourers of France in digging the Panama Canal.” The finished composition was Hail! California, a musical extravaganza combining the Exposition Orchestra, John Philip Sousa and his band, and the 117-rank Austin organ played by Wallace A. Sabin
In San Francisco, local critics were delighted, describing the pleasure of Sousa and other musicians in “watching Saint-Saëns conduct,” and the work was performed a total of three times. Honouring his appointment as cultural ambassador, Saint-Saëns incorporated the national anthems of the France and the United States of America into his composition. The Marseillaise and The Star-Spangled Banner appear first separately, then simultaneously in the grand finale.
The work is scored for a large orchestra, organ, and wind band:
In typical French style, Saint-Saëns’ orchestral trombone section comprises 3 trombones, which at the time would have been three narrow bore French tenor trombones. However, unusually the composer makes the addition of a contrabass trombone, though it does not make its first appearance until shortly before the end with the statement of The Star-Spangled Banner.
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