Camille Saint-Saëns

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Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) was a French romantic composer, pianist and organist, and teacher.

Saint-Saëns was born in Paris on 9th October 1835. A child prodigy, he had lessons with Camille-Marie Stamaty and Alexandre Pierre François Boëly, going on to the Paris Conservatoire in 1848, where he was taught by Fromental Halévy .

He soon came to the notice - and earned the admiration of - such eminent composers as Charles Gounod, Gioacchino Rossini, Hector Berlioz, and Franz Liszt. He was appointed organist at the Madeleine (1857-1875), and taught at the École Niedermeyer from 1861 to 1865, Gabriel Fauré being one of his pupils.

Aside from these paid positions, Saint-Saëns was heavily involved in the musical world; he organised concerts of Liszt’s symphonic poems, he worked to revive popular interest in earlier, especially Baroque, composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Händel, and Jean-Philippe Rameau, but he also, on behalf of new French music, co-founded the Société Nationale de Musique in 1871. He also wrote on music, science, and history, and often travelled around Europe, North Africa, and South America.

Saint-Saëns was a virtuoso pianist and a prolific composer. His best-known work among general audience is Le carnaval des animaux (1886), though he forbade performances of it in his lifetime, apart from “Le cygne”.
In a themepark in the Netherlands, called ‘De Efteling’ there’s a ride, called ‘Het Spookslot’ (Haunted Mansion). In this ride the song ‘La Dans Macabre’ is played. This play is based upon a French poet, called ‘Dans Macabre’, by Henri Cazalis.

Tagged as:

classical, romantic, french, composers, composer
See more…

1	The Swan full track	1,092
2	Danse Macabre full track	1,069
3	Aquarium full track	905
4	Introduction And March Of The	681
5	Finale	341
6	The Elephant	314
7	Fossils	296
8	Wildasses	199
9	Aviary	198
10	Kangaroos	191
11	The Cuckoo In The Middle Of Th	156
12	Introduction And Rondo Capricc	140
13	Carnival of the Animals, The swan	123
14	Tortoises	122
15	Carnival of the Animals: The Swan full track	96

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HelloS1 wrote:
last week

i love him =>

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sodiumneck wrote:
last week

the 'pataphysics group exists

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chinese_bomb wrote:
last week

geniuuus

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[deleted-user] wrote:
20 days ago

Because of the appreciation folks at last.fm have shown Mr. Camille, he has agreed to come back from the dead for one final tour. Let us all give him a welcoming hand back! *CLAPS*
lucimon wrote:
last month

Danse Macabre is amazing. I love that the BBC used it for opening title of Jonathan Creek.

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hailmarduk666 wrote:
last month

Does anyone have a link that could direct me to purchasing a complete works? I don't want to miss anything :P

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Nivade wrote:
last month

Is there anyone NOT on tour?

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Vasilievich wrote:
last month

Such a shame that his most well known piece is the very same piece that he would not allowed to be published... Saint-Saëns' music is genius and his lesser known pieces are incredible pieces, Clarinet Sonata, Bassoon Sonata, are wonderful and ingenious.

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charlesfernando wrote:
last month

My favorite!

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hippiedrow wrote:
last month

Is he good live? I bet his shows have a wild mosh pit.

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xErasedCitizenx wrote:
last month

ORGAN SYMPHONY FTW. my god how much I love this piece, it's fucking incredible

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headgegr wrote:
September 2008

i luv dis man and omg he is on tour

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vintage_geisha wrote:
September 2008

I think Rachmaninoff is also on tour. Check it out! I'm excited to see if he's coming to New York!

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votre_devinette wrote:
September 2008

Camille Saint-Saëns is on tour? How is that possible..?

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funkayy wrote:
September 2008

Le Cygne is too beautiful for words.

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tolstoyevski wrote:
August 2008

ilk resitalini verdiğinde 11 yaşındaymış inanamıyorum :s

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Vasilievich wrote:
July 2008

Saint-Saens piano concerto No. 1 is a fantastic piece. I find Saint-Saens music to be very intelligent and flamboyant. One of the great composers indeed!

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Kai_Master wrote:
June 2008

We celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first music score of cinema , it was in 1908 and music was made by him. I think I'll try some music of him (never tried).

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Greenfoot wrote:
June 2008

Listen to his first piano trio! Sublime! The second movement sounds like movie music.

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gulsch92 wrote:
May 2008

Introduction&Rondo is the best!

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