CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS French Composer (1835-1921) Camille Saint-Saens free midi download

CAMILLE SAINT-SAENS
9^th October 1835 --- 16^th December 1921

Camille Saint-Saens(born 1835, Paris, France, died 1921, Algiers (Algeria), composer chiefly remembered for his symphonic poems
the first of that genre to be written by a Frenchman and for his opera Samson et Dalila. Saint-Saëns was most notable for his
pioneering efforts on behalf of French music, and he was also a gifted pianist and organist, as well as a writer of criticism, poetry
essays, and plays. Of his concerti and symphonies, in which he adapted the virtuosity of Franz Liszt's style to French traditions of
harmony and form, his Third Symphony is most often performed.

A child prodigy on the piano, Saint-Saëns gave his first recital in 1846. He studied organ and composition at the Paris Conservatory
and in 1855 his First Symphony was performed. He became the organist at the famed Church of the Madeleine in Paris in 1857, an
association that lasted 20 years. Liszt, whom he met about this time and with whom he formed an enduring friendship, described
him as the finest organist in the world. From 1861 to 1865 he was professor of piano at the Niedermeyer School, where his pupils
included Gabriel Fauré and André Messager.

In 1871, after the Franco-Prussian War, he helped found the National Society of Music, which promoted performances of the most
significant French orchestral works of the succeeding generation. In that same year, he produced his first symphonic poem, Le
Rouet d'Omphale (Omphale's Spinning Wheel), which with the Danse Macabre, is the most frequently performed of his four such
works. His opera Samson et Dalila, rejected in Paris because of the prejudice against portraying biblical characters on the stage
was given in German at Weimar in 1877, on the recommendation of Liszt. It was finally staged in Paris in 1890 at the Théâtre
Eden and later became his most popular opera.

In 1878 Saint-Saëns lost both of his sons and three years later he separated from his wife. Over the following years he undertook
extensive tours throughout Europe, the United States, South America, the Middle East, and East Asia, performing his five piano
concerti and other keyboard works and conducting his symphonic compositions. As a pianist he was admired by Richard Wagner
for his brilliant technique and was the subject of a study by Marcel Proust. From about 1880 until the end of his life, his immense
production covered all fields of dramatic and instrumental music. His Third Symphony (1886), dedicated to the memory of Liszt
made skilled use of the organ and two pianos. In the same year, he wrote Carnaval des Animaux (Carnival of Animals) for small
orchestra, a humorous fantasy not performed during his lifetime that has since won considerable popularity as a work for young
people's concerts. Among the best of his later works are the Fifth Piano Concerto (1895) and the Second Cello Concerto (1902).

Though he had lived through the period of Wagners influence, Saint-Saëns remained unaffected by it and adhered to the classical
models upholding a conservative ideal of French music that emphasized polished craftsmanship and a sense of form. In his
essays and memoirs he described the contemporary musical scene in a shrewd and often ironic manner.

Copyright 1994-1998 Encyclopaedia Britannica

George Pollen has sent me a description of Danse Macabre, both of us think it will be of some interest to you.

DANSE MACABRE by Saint-Saens.

The most popular of Saint-Saens' works, it was inspired by Henri Cazali's poem on the dance of the dead on Hallowe'en. The music
was first composed in the form of a song, and later re-written as a symphonic poem. At its first performance in 1875, it was too
unconventional for the audience, but it gradually won such popularity that the composer adapted it for two pianos. Listz later
rewrote the work for solo piano. Saint-Saens employed discordant musical effects in order to conjure up the vision of the dance of
the dead, including the use of the xylophone to represent the rattling of the skeletons.

The following is a free translation of the poem.

Moonbeams break fitfully through the ragged clouds. Twelve heavy strokes sound from the bell in the church tower. As the last
stroke dies away, strange sounds are heard from the graveyard, and the light of the moon falls on a ghastly figure, it is Death
sitting on a tombstone tuning his fiddle. Shrieks are heard from the graves around, the wind howls through the bare tree-tops.

The sinister notes of Death's mistuned violin call the dead forth from their graves, and clad in white shrouds, they flutter around
in a demoniacal dance. The quiet of the churchyard is rent by the hollow cries and horrible laughter. Wilder and wilder race the
rattling skeletons round the figure of Death, as he beats time with his clacking skeleton foot.

Suddenly, as if seized by a terrible suspicion, they stop. In the icy wind, Death's notes cannot be heard. A tremor runs hrough the
ranks of the dead. The grinning skulls are turned, as if listening towards the pale moon. There is a sad interlude as a couple killed
on their wedding night, dance out a tragic memory of their once happy times.

But Death's goading notes once more shatter the silence, and once again the dead hurl themselves into the dance, wilder than
before. The howling wind joins in the ghastly choir, and moans in the bare linden trees.

Suddenly Death stops his playing. In the stillness that follows is heard the sound of a cock crowing. The dead scurry back to their
graves, and the weird vision fades away in the light of dawn.
Last Updated on 2020
By Steven Ritchie

And now for the Music

Thanks to Michael A. Abelson for the music below. Email (mabelson@telerama. lm. com)
New (3129)"Symphony No.3 in C minor, Opus.78, 1st Movement". Sequenced by Michael A. Abelson.

New (3130)"Symphony No.3 in C minor, Opus.78, 2nd Movement". Sequenced by Michael A. Abelson.

New (3131)"Symphony No.3 in C minor, Opus.78, 3rd Movement". Sequenced by Michael A. Abelson.

New (3132)"Clarinet Sonata in Bb, 1st Movement". Sequencer Unknown.

New (3133)"Clarinet Sonata in Bb, 2nd Movement". Sequencer Unknown.

New (3134)"Clarinet Sonata in Bb, 3rd Movement". Sequencer Unknown.

New (3135)"Clarinet Sonata in Bb, 4th Movement". Sequencer Unknown.

Thanks to Emily Gray for the music below. Email (HappyMusician@opendiary .com)
(2681)"Romance for horn". Sequenced by Emily Gray
Thanks to George Pollen for the music below. Check my Bookmark page for his Website.
(1497)"Introduction & Rondo Capriccioso, Opus.28". Sequenced by George Pollen

(1496)"Havanaise, Opus.83". Sequenced by George Pollen

(664)"Danse Macabre, Opus. 40". Sequenced by George Pollen

(665)"Organ Symphony". Sequenced by George Pollen

Thanks to Ramon Pajares Box for the music below.

(885)"Le Carnaval des Animaux (1886), 1. Introduction et Marche du Lion". Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

(886)"Le Carnaval des Animaux (1886), 2. Poules et Coqs". Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

(887)"Le Carnaval des Animaux (1886), 3. Hemiones (Animaux rapides)". Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

(888)"Le Carnaval des Animaux (1886), 4. Tortues". Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

(891)"Le Carnaval des Animaux (1886), 5. L'Eléphant". Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

(892)"Le Carnaval des Animaux (1886), 6. Kangourous". Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

(893)"Le Carnaval des Animaux (1886), 7. Aquarium". Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

(894)"Le Carnaval des Animaux (1886), 8. Personnages à longues oreilles". Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

(903)"Le Carnaval des Animaux (1886), 9. Le coucou au fond des bois". Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

(904)"Le Carnaval des Animaux (1886), 10. Voliere". Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

(905)"Le Carnaval des Animaux (1886), 11. Pianistes". Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

(906)"Le Carnaval des Animaux (1886), 12. Fossiles". Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

(907)"Le Carnaval des Animaux (1886), 13. Le Cygne". Sequence by Ramon Pajares Box

(908)"Le Carnaval des Animaux (1886), 14. Final". Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

(39a)"Fossiles". Seqencer unknown

(13a)"Short piece from The Swan,(Info by Natalie Deshow)". Seqencer unknown

(349)"Finale to Variation on a theme by Beethoven,(Info by Gary K Allen)". Seqencer unknown

(311)"Piano Concerto No.2, Mov.3,(info by Chung-Ta Lee)". Seqencer unknown

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