![]() From an early age, he studied geology, archaeology, botany, and lepidoptery. Saint-Saëns was a multi-faceted intellectual. His most successful students at the Niedermeyer were André Messager and Gabriel Fauré, who was Saint-Saëns's favorite pupil and soon his closest friend. ![]() His weekly improvisations stunned the Parisian public and earned Liszt's 1866 observation that Saint-Saëns was the greatest organist in the world.įrom 1861 to 1865, Saint-Saëns held his only teaching position as professor of piano at the École Niedermeyer, where he raised eyebrows by including contemporary music-Liszt, Gounod, Schumann, Berlioz, and Wagner-along with the school's otherwise conservative curriculum of Bach and Mozart. In 1857, he replaced Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wely at the eminent position of organist at the Église de la Madeleine, which he kept until 1877. ![]() Hector Berlioz, who became one of Saint-Saëns' good friends, famously commented, "Il sait tout, mais il manque d'inexpérience" ("He knows everything, but lacks inexperience").įor income, Saint-Saëns worked playing the organ at various churches in Paris. 1 in E-flat major," was performed in 1853 to the astonishment of many critics and fellow-composers. At the age of 16, Saint-Saëns wrote his first symphony his second, published as "Symphony No. The reputation these awards garnered him resulted in his introduction to Franz Liszt, who became one of his closest friends. Saint-Saëns won many top prizes (though he failed to win the prestigious Prix de Rome in both 18). ![]() In the late 1840s, Saint-Saëns entered the Paris Conservatory, where he studied organ and composition, the latter under Fromental Halévy (Jacques Halévy). Word of this incredible concert spread across Europe and even to the United States, appearing in a Boston, Massachusetts newspaper. As an encore, Saint-Saëns offered to play any of the 32 Beethoven piano sonatas from memory. 450), and various pieces by Händel, Kalkbrenner, Hummel, and Bach. 15 in B-flat major (Köchel-Verzeichnis - K. At ten years of age, Saint-Saëns gave his debut public recital at the Salle Ignaz Pleyel pianos, playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. In 1842, Saint-Saëns began piano lessons with Camille-Marie Stamaty, a pupil of Friedrich Kalkbrenner, who had his students play the piano while resting their forearms on a bar situated in front of the keyboard, so that all the pianist's power came from the hand and fingers and not the arms. He went on to begin in-depth study of the full score of Don Giovanni. His first piano recital was given at age five, when he accompanied a Beethoven violin sonata. ![]() Saint-Saëns' precociousness was not limited to music he could read and write by the time he was three, and had learned Latin four years later. His first composition, a little piece for the piano dated March 22, 1839, is now kept in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. One of the most talented musical child prodigies of all time, he had absolute pitch (perfect pitch) and began piano lessons with his great-aunt at two years old, then almost immediately began composing. His mother, Clémence, sought the aid of her aunt, Charlotte Masson, who moved in and introduced Camille to the piano. Program music was very aligned with poetry and literature where artists hoped for a "unification of the arts." It is said that poets wanted poetry to be music, and musicians wanted their music to be poetry.Ĭamille Saint-Saëns was born in Paris to a government clerk who died only three months after his son's birth. Camille Saint-Saëns's sensitive renderings of using instruments to tell a story or suggestively act out a scene helped to glorify the concept of "program music." He is best known for his orchestral work The Carnival of the Animals. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |