October 4, 2022
October Composer of the Month – Camille Saint-Saëns
While Carnival of Animals is widely loved and played around the world, there is so much more to Camille Saint-Saëns. This October, we’re looking into the life of the great French composer, Camille Saint-Saëns, a man whose compression and wit took the place of excessive emotion.
Camille Saint-Saëns’s Personal Life
Camille Saint-Saëns was born on October 9, 1835, becoming a child prodigy in his early years. Saint-Saëns performed at his very first recital in 1846 before moving on to the Paris Conservatory to study organ and composition. By 1855, the orchestra at the Conservatory performed his piece, Symphony No. 1.
By 1857, he became an organist in Paris at the Church of the Madeleine, where he would play for more than 20 years. During this time, he met Lizst, and the two formulated a friendship that would endure throughout their lives.
Liszt would go on to describe Saint-Saëns as the best organist in the world.
By 1861, Saint-Saëns began working for the Niedermeyer School, where he became the professor of piano. Some of his pupils went on to become recognizable names in the world of music, including Andre Messager and Gabrial Faure.
Saint-Saëns would continue working for this school until 1865.
After the Franco-Prussian War came to an end in 1871, Saint-Saëns founded the National Society of Music. He used this society to promote French orchestral music from the new generation of composers. In that same year, he produced Le Rouet d’Omphale, which was his very first symphonic poem.
Along with Danse macabre, Le Rouet d’Omphale became one of his most performed pieces.
In 1878, both of Saint-Saëns’ sons passed, eventually leading to a separation from his wife three years later. In the following years, he went on several European tours, as well as tours in East Asia, the Middle East, South America, and the United States. During these tours, he performed five piano concerto pieces, as well as a number of keyboard works.
What audience members loved the most about these performances, however, were his symphonic compositions.
From about 1880 until his death, he studied, composed, and performed in a variety of fields of dramatic and instrumental music. One of his most popular compositions during this time was Symphony No. 3, which he dedicated to Liszt. This piece made use of two pianos and an organ.
In the same year he wrote Symphony No. 3, and he also wrote Carnaval des Animaux (The Carnival of Animals). The piece was meant o be played by a small orchestra. During his lifetime, the piece was never performed. However, since his death, it has become one of his most famed pieces.
Some of Saint-Saëns’ other popular works include Cello Concerto No. 2 and Piano Concerto No. 5.
Saint-Saëns certainly retained a conservative mindset throughout his lifetime, upholding traditional ideals of French music while putting an emphasis on form and polished craftsmanship.
The Influence Of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Music
Richard Wagner often said he had always admired Saint-Saëns for his technique, which he deemed “brilliant.”
He was often remembered for his symphonic poems and was one of the first Frenchmen to write in that genre. One of his other most popular works was his opera, Samson et Dalila.
This opera was exotic for the time, and its main excerpt, “Bacchanale,” was extremely suggestive. The opera dramatized the life of Samson, the strongman, and Delilah, the woman who would seduce and betray him.
The opera staged a number of grandiose scenes, including mass dances and the fall of the temple. Many say this was one of the most challenging plays to direct during the era.
He was a pioneer of French music, as well as a gifted organist and pianist. During his lifetime, he wrote many plays, essays, poems, and criticisms. He was noted for adapting the virtuosity of Franz Lizst when writing symphonies and concerti, bringing his own French style and tradition into the mix.
One of his most performed pieces became Symphony No. 3 for organ.
Notable Facts
- Samson et Dalila, one of Saint-Saëns’ many operas, was rejected from stages in Paris due to its prejudice against portraying biblical characters on stage. Luckily, Saint-Saëns was able to take it to Weimar in 1877, thanks to Lizst’s recommendation, where it was performed in German. By 1890, it was on stage at Théâtre Eden in Paris, and subsequently became one of his most famous operas.
- In his memoirs and essays, Saint-Saëns described the contemporary music scene during the time as ironic and shrewd.