Saint-Saëns

BORN: October 9, 1835, Paris, France

DIED: December 16, 1921, Algiers (El Djazair), Algeria

BIOGRAPHY

Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a great composer, organist, conductor, and pianist of the Romantic era. He was introduced to the piano by his mother and great aunt, who recognized his musical curiosity and potential from a very young age. It became clear that he was a child prodigy when he completed his first work of music at the age of four—and he played his first concert when he was 10 years old!

Featured Work

Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah

To make money early in his career, Saint-Saëns played the organ in churches around Paris. He also taught at the Paris Conservatory, where his colleagues showed distress at his modern ideas about music. He also wrote books on acoustics and philosophy—plus a book of poetry and a successful play. He was a member of the Astronomical Society of France, owned a telescope made to his own specifications, and sometimes even planned concerts around astronomical events such as solar eclipses.