Rhapsodie sur des cantiques bretons n°3

Saint-Saens wrote the "3 rhapsodies sur des cantiques bretons" in 1866 after he spent summer holidays at Saint-Anne-La Palud, a village in Britanny where there was each year a great "Pardon". This means a solemn religious ceremony, with a big procession and also, after, a secular feast with music, dances, food and also (above all ?) various strong beverages.
During the Pardon, Saint-Saens noted breton canticles and tunes and used them in the rhapsodies. In this one, we find three breton tunes :
- the first one (beginning) is a canticle which sounds typically breton with its sweet melancholy ;
- the second (2'55) one is a kind of musette in a rather smiling mood ;
- the third one (4'10) is a dance tune wich evokes the secular feast. It leads to a climax in which it's like if all the bells of Britanny were ringing out ;
- then the calms comes back and the piece ends peacefully : the feast is over....