Camille Saint-Saëns

EARLY LIFE

French composer and conductor Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was born on October 9, 1835, in Paris. When Charles-Camille was three months old his father died.

Saint-Saëns, photographed by Pierre Petit in 1900

After the death of his father, Saint-Saëns was raised by his mother and an aunt, who taught him to play the piano.

Saint-Saëns was a sickly child, and was often ill with tuberculosis, which carried on throughout his life.

The precocious child composed a piano piece soon after his 3rd birthday and he gave a full debut concert in 1846.

In 1848, at the age of thirteen, Saint-Saëns was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire.

Saint-Saëns as a boy

Saint-Saëns wrote his first symphony five years later.

CAREER

Saint-Saëns was a distinguished pianist and organist, Franz Liszt called him the world's greatest organist.

On leaving the Conservatoire in 1853, Saint-Saëns accepted the post of organist at the ancient Parisian church of Saint-Merri near the Hôtel de Ville. Saint-Saëns then served as organist at the Church of the Madeleine for 20 years starting in 1857.

Saint-Saëns taught from 1861 to 1865 at the École de Musique Classique et Religieuse in Paris. It was his only teaching post, but his appointment was nevertheless important in the development of French music: his students included Gabriel Fauré, among whose own later pupils was Maurice Ravel. Both of them were strongly influenced by Saint-Saëns, whom they revered as a genius.

In 1871 Saint-Saëns helped to found the Société Nationale de Musique, which helped new music to be performed. Faure was also a member. The society gave first performances of works by Saint-Saëns, Claude Debussy, Ravel and others.

Saint-Saëns wrote four further symphonies, including the renowned Third "Organ" Symphony, which was dedicated to Liszt and premiered on May 19, 1886.

Saint-Saëns composed 13 operas, of which the best known is Samson et Dalila. Franz Liszt  was an enthusiastic supporter of Samson et Dalila and was instrumental in arranging the first production at the Ducal Theater in Weimar (now the Staatskapelle Weimar) on December 2, 1877.

The Grand Ducal Theater in Weimar. By Andreas Trepte 

The role of Dalila was written for Pauline Viardot (1821–1910) but the singer was deemed too old to perform the role for the Weimar premiere and the role was entrusted to Auguste von Müller.

Saint Saëns also composed concertos for piano, violin, and cello, church music (including his Messe solennelle, 1855), chamber music, and songs.

Saint Saëns despised trends toward modern music and based much of his work on earlier composers, including Ludwig von Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, and Robert Schumann.

Saint-Saëns was one of the first to write symphonic poems, such as his Danse macabre, which was premiered on January 24, 1875. The work was not well received, the solo violin's screeching, use of xylophone and hypnotic repetitions caused widespread consternation.

Another symphonic poem, The Carnival of the Animals (1886) was written as a private joke, and Saint-Saëns never allowed it to be performed publicly during his lifetime.

Part of the original manuscript score of VII "Aquarium". 

Following Saint-Saëns death in 1921, The Carnival of the Animals' first public performance was given on February 25, 1922 by Concerts Colonne (the orchestra of Édouard Colonne).

Saint-Saëns became the first acclaimed composer to score a motion picture when he composed the music for the 1908 film L'assassinat du duc de Guise (The Assassination of the Duke of Guise).

For many years Saint-Saëns traveled all over the world as a famous musician. Eventually he became less popular in France, but in England and the United States he remained very much admired.

Saint-Saëns extensive travels were often reflected in his music. Both Africa (1891) for piano and orchestra and Caprice Arabe (1884) for two pianos show these influences, as does his Suite Algerienne (1880).

PERSONAL LIFE

Saint-Saëns had a life time interest in astronomy. In 1858 he published some duets for harmonium and piano and used the money to buy a telescope.

He was also interested in other fields such as archaeology and philosophy, and was also a prolific poet and essayist.

Saint-Saëns lived a bachelor existence, sharing a large fourth-floor flat in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré with his mother until the mid 1870s. In 1875, he surprised many when nearing forty, he married Marie Laure Emile Truffot, who was just 19.

Saint-Saëns in 1875, the year of his marriage

They had two sons, both of whom died in 1878, within six weeks of each other, The younger child, Jean-François, passed away from pneumonia, the older, 2-year-old André, died after falling out of a fourth-story window. For the latter's death Saint-Saëns blamed his wife, and when they went on vacation together in 1881 in the Auvergne he simply disappeared one day. A separation order was enacted, but they never divorced.

LAST YEARS AND DEATH

Saint-Saëns gave what he intended to be his farewell concert as a pianist in Paris in 1913, but his retirement was soon in abeyance as a result of the war, during which he gave many performances in France and elsewhere, raising money for war charities.

Saint-Saëns at the piano for his planned farewell concert in 1913

He died in Algiers, Algeria on December 16, 1921. Saint-Saëns' funeral was in the cathedral there, and his body was then taken back to Paris where he was given a state funeral at the church of Madeleine.

Source Comptons Encyclopedia