In this first full-length study of the symphony in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century France, Andrew Deruchie provides extended critical discussion of seven of the most influential and frequently performed works of the era, by Camille Saint-Saëns, César Franck, Édouard Lalo, Vincent d'Indy, and Paul Dukas. The volume explores how French symphonists reconciled Beethoven's legacy with the musical culture, intellectual environment, and political milieu of fin-de-siècle France, pursuing issues of musical form and also moving beyond the notes to consider questions of meaning. Andrew Deruchie is a lecturer in musicology at the University of Otago (New Zealand), specializing in French music of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.