Camille Saint-Saens, Composer
French Organist, Piano Virtuoso and Child Prodigy
French composer and pianist Saint-Saëns is best remembered for his orchestral Carnaval des animaux (Carnival of the Animals). The best-known movements are "The Aquarium" and "The Swan." He also composed the opera Samson et Dalila.
He loved travelling and often arranged concerts. He enjoyed Africa, Uruguay, South America, and Algiers where he died at 86. He married a much younger woman and had two sons but both boys died within six weeks of each other. Fauré was not only his protegé but a close friend, and in the Fauré home, he assumed the “favourite uncle” role.
Early Life of Saint-Saens
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921), was born on October 9, in Paris. His father was a civil servant. He was raised by his mother and aunt Charlotte Masson, who gave him his first piano lessons before entering Paris Conservatoire in 1848. Like some of history’s great composers, he was also a child prodigy and a piano virtuoso. He made his concert debut as a pianist, aged 10.
Early on, his dazzling talents won him the admiration of Gounod, Rossini, Berlioz and especially Liszt, who hailed him as the world’s greatest organist. He excelled in Mozart works and was praised for the purity and grace of his playing, as well, he wrote in all established forms, from opera to chamber music.
The Composer
French characteristics of his conservative musical style reside in his best compositions, for example, his classically oriented sonatas especially for violin and cello, chamber music Piano Quartet op.41, symphonies (No.3, the ‘Organ’ symphony) and concertos (No.4 for piano, No.3 for violin). Among his many lyrical Romantic pieces are the celebrated symphonic poem Danse macabre, the opera with a biblical theme Samson et Dalila (Samson and Delilah, first heard at Weimar), and the orchestral Carnaval des Animaux (Carnival of the Animals) which he entitled “grand zoological fantasy” written for two pianos and a small orchestra.
The Man and His Music
Saint-Saens was one of the most significant French composers of the 19th century. While advocating a Classical renaissance, he bridged the Romantic era and its transition to the modern age.
Saint-Saëns's Works
- Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, for violin and orchestra, 1863
- Piano Concerto No.2, 1868
- Symphonic Poem, Omphale's Spinning Wheel, 1871
- Cello Concerto No.1, 1873
- Symphonic Poem, Phaeton, 1873
- Symphonic Poem, Danse Macabre, 1874
- Variations on a theme of Beethoven, for two pianos, 1874
- Piano Concerto No.4, 1875
- Opera, Samson and Delilah, 1877
- Violin Concerto No.3, 1880
- Violin Sonata No.1, 1881
- Symphony No.3, "Organ Symphony", 1886
- Carnival of the Animals, 1886
- Africa, fantasy for piano and orchestra, 1891
Sources:
The Encyclopedia of Music by Max Wade-Matthews & Wendy Thompson, Hermes House (2002)
The Grove concise Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan (1994)
The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham, OUP (2002)
Camille Saint-Saens
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