|
|
|
Camille
Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille
Saint-Saëns was born in Paris on 9th October 1935, in the late
Romantic period. He was a prodigious
composer and performer on piano and organ. His
improvisations on these instruments were much enjoyed by his audiences.
Saint-Saëns’
father died when he was a baby, leaving his mother poor.
His great-aunt came to live with them.
She was Saint-Saëns’ first piano teacher, teaching him from the age of
two. He was a very fast learner.
He started composing almost immediately (when he was 2).
A piece he wrote when he was only 4 is now in a museum in France.
He also loved reading and even writing essays about science. Saint-Saëns
gave his first public recital when he was five, accompanying a Beethoven violin
sonata. At ten, he performed the
piano solo of Mozart’s piano concerto K.450.
In the same concert, he performed a number of famous Baroque pieces and
offered an encore of any Beethoven Sonata the audience chose – played from
memory. As a result, the young
genius became worldwide famous. He
was accepted to the Paris Conservatorium for piano and composition study.
After receiving many honours there, he was introduced to the composer and
virtuoso Franz Liszt who became one of his closest friends. Although
he had published symphonies that stunned musicians and concertgoers, his main
source of income was work as a church organist and accompanist.
He lasted as a teacher at the conservatorium for only four years.
He caused waves and controversy by introducing study of the ‘modern’
composers such as Liszt, Wagner and Schumann at a time when it was only
acceptable to study Baroque and Classical styles.
For many years he earned additional income as an author of scientific and
philosophical papers and music criticism – a brilliant man with expertise in
many fields. He even designed a type
of telescope. One
of Saint-Saëns’ most famous works, Le Carnaval des Animaux (The
Carnival of the Animals), has been transcribed for piano and is a great
favourite of young people. It was
dedicated to Franz Liszt and composed in the year Liszt died, but was never
meant to be performed because Saint-Saëns’ thought it was not serious music
and might ruin his reputation. The
suite portrays a parade of comical animal characters including the tortoise,
birds, elephant, fish, kangaroo, animals with long ears, fossils and even the
pianist! J
It was written as a tease of Saint-Saëns’ closest friends – like
characateurs in music. One very
lovely section is called Le Cygne (The Swan), a beautiful melody in the
midst of graceful, flowing broken chords. The
Franco-Prussian War and World War I disturbed saint-Saëns’ later years.
Nonetheless, he travelled, wrote, composed and performed in many
countries until his death in 1921. A
very industrious 86 years of life left an important legacy.
Since he was born at a time when Classical style was considered
‘proper’, his championing of the expressive, less structured Romantic works
was often frowned upon. Yet, living
well into the beginning of the 1900s jazz era, his views later in life were
considered restrictive and old-fashioned. Saint-Saëns
had strong opinions – he loved or loathed his peers, and received the same in
return. Saint-Saëns’
early work is often considered intellectual rather than passionate, as was
typical of the Romantic period. He
modelled many of his concertos on those of Mozart, and was the first to perform
Mozart’s Piano concertos in one cycle. As
fashions changed, he experimented with new harmonies and even African themes.
His final works were mostly French neo-Classical, founding this movement
in the 20th century. He
was also the first composer to write anything specifically for movie soundtrack.
|
|
Last modified: April 13, 2009 |
