Camille Saint-Saéns

Synopsis

French composer, organist, conductor, and pianist

• 1835 born in Paris, France. He was taught piano by his aunt, beginning at age 2.
• 1839 his first composition at age 4. His first public concert was at age 5, accompanying a Beethoven violin sonata.
• 1842 began studying piano with Camille-Marie Stamaty.
• 1845 at age 10, Saint-Saëns gave his debut public recital at the Salle Pleyel, playing a Mozart piano concerto and works by Handel, Friedrich Kalkbrenner, Hummel, and Bach. He performed everything from memory, and offered to play any of the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas from memory as an encore. Word of this feat spread throughout Europe.
• 1848 Saint-Saëns entered the Paris Conservatory. He studied organ with Benoist, and won first prize in 1851. He also studied composition and orchestration with Halévy, and took lessons in accompaniment and singing.
• 1853 he was made organist of St Merry.
• 1857-1877, he was nominated to the Madeleine. According to Oxford Music online, "it was there that Liszt heard him improvising and hailed him as the greatest organist in the world."
• 1861-1865 he taught at the Ecole Niedermeyer. His pupils included Fauré, Messager and Gigout, who each became lifelong friends.
• 1875 Saint-Saëns married the 19-year-old Marie-Laure Truffot. His marriage was unhappy.
• 1878 his two young sons died within 6 weeks of each other. A permanent separation from his wife followed.
• 1888 his mother died, and he travelled to Algeria. He travelled extensively, and as he grew older he began to spend much of his time in Egypt and Algeria. As his popularity in France waned, he continued to be highly regarded as a composer and concert artist in England and America.
• 1921 died in Algiers, Algeria

For details, see the Camille Saint-Saёns article on Wikipedia.

List of Organ Works

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Opus	Title	Year
Op. ??	Fantaisie no. 1 in E-flat major	1857
Op. 9	Benediction Nuptiale	1859
Op. 7	3 Rapsodies sur des Cantiques Bretons	1866
Op. 78	Symphony no. 3 in C minor, "Organ"	1886
Op. 99	3 Preludes and Fugues	1894
Op. 101	Fantasy in D-flat major	1895
Op. 109	3 Preludes and Fugues	1898
Op. 150	7 Improvisations	1916-1917
Op. 157	Fantasy in C major	1919
Op. ??	Title	year

Background and General Perspectives on Performing Saint-Saёns Organ Works

Some analysis of Saint-Saëns' musical style by Oxford Music online:

• "Although he seemed a reactionary to his younger colleagues, in his time Saint-Saëns served French music well. The perspective of history shows him as a neo-classicist and as the embodiment of certain traditional French qualities – moderation, logic, clarity, balance and precision – that were coming back into fashion at the turn of the 20th century."

• "Saint-Saëns wrote in every 19th-century musical genre, but his most successful works are those based on traditional Viennese models, namely sonatas, chamber music, symphonies and concertos. Well schooled in the works of Bach and Beethoven, he was influenced at an early age by Mendelssohn and Schumann."

• "Saint-Saëns's musical language is generally conservative. Although some of his melodies are supple and pliable, many are formal and rigid. They are usually built in well-defined phrases of three or four bars, and the phrase pattern AABB is characteristic. The most distinctive aspect of his music is his harmony, in which he was influenced by the theories of Gottfried Weber. Modulations by 3rds are typical, and while most chordal progressions are simple and direct, the many digressions and alterations lend nobility or charm to the music. He had a tendency to repeat rhythmic patterns."

Registration and Organs

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See the footnote in the "Notes" section at the bottom of the page

Fingering and Pedaling

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Articulation and Phrasing

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Ornamentation

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Tempo and Meter

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Scores and Editions

Fantaisie in E-flat major on imslp: http://imslp.org/wiki/Fantaisie_No.1_(Saint-Sa%C3%ABns,_Camille)

3 Preludes and Fugues, opus 99: http://imslp.org/wiki/3_Preludes_and_Fugues,_Op.99_(Saint-Sa%C3%ABns,_Camille)

3 Rapsodies sur des Cantiques Bretons, opus 7: http://imslp.org/wiki/3_Rhapsodies,_Op.7_(Saint-Sa%C3%ABns,_Camille)

7 Improvisations, opus 150: http://imslp.org/wiki/7_Improvisations,_Op.150_(Saint-Sa%C3%ABns,_Camille)

Recordings

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Free Online

Fantaisie in E-flat major, played by Christopher Houlihan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1B2FNBadI8

Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major, Opus 99 no. 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV7GkrFoUtI

Rapsodies sur des Cantiques Bretons, opus 7 no. 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIjVZEFLIZo

7 Improvisations, Opus 150 no. 7, played by David Roth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgWwuHC06Gg

Symphony no. 3, "Organ:"

• movement 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFXzPLx0S6o
• movement 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VohAWjjJM7Y
• movement 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VohAWjjJM7Y
• movement 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_2FKcorqqE

Pay to Listen

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Other Resources

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Notes

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