Download Camille Saint-Saëns

Camille Saint-Saëns
1835-1921
Miss Lessman’s Class
9th Grade
Music Literature Class
Early Life

Camille Saint-Saëns was born on October 9th
1835 in Paris, France.

He started learning how to play the piano at age
three.

When he was ten he
made his formal debut
Playing a Mozart
Concerto that he wrote
his own cadenza for.
Middle Life


Saint-Saëns entered the
Paris Conservatory when
he was 23 years old
While there he studied
organ, composition,
orchestration, and took
lessons in
accompaniment and
voice.

During this period he
started composing many
pieces, most of which
were never completed.

Franz Liszt was impressed by him as a pianist
and a composer

At the age of 28 he was made organist of St
Merry, in Paris.

He was one of the first to appreciate Wagner
and defended both Tannhäuser and Lohengrin
against the attacks of his elders.

In 1867 his cantata, Les noces de Prométhée
won a competition which was judged by Rossini,
Auber, Berlioz, Verdi and Gounod, some of the
most prominent musicians at the time


From 1861 to 1865 he taught at an institution
founded to improve musical standards in French
churches.
In 1914 he wrote a series of articles, entitled
‘Germanophilie’, in which he promoted a ban
on German music during the war (particularly
the works of Wagner).
Interesting Fact

Camille Saint-Saëns is general credited with
writing the first original film score in 1908
Works

One of his most famous
works is the Carnival of
the Animals.
The Carnival of the Animals

Each section represents a different animal.

The instrumentation used exemplifies the
animals that the section represents.

This is a clip of the Fossils section
Fossils

The instrument featured
is the Xylophone
Danse Macabre

Another piece he wrote, Danse Macabre, was
take from a legend that started in early medieval
times.

In the song the clock strikes midnight at the
beginning.
Danse Macabre

After that Death and a band of skeletons go
around trying to get people to join the death
dance

The dance continues until the cock crows and
they have to return to the crypts with the people
they convinced to join the dance.
Summary

Camille Saint-Saëns was born in 1835 and died
in 1921

He wrote many works including “Carnival
of the animals”, and “Danse Macabre”
Program Notes
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This Presentation has been brought to you by
the letters C, and the number 1.5

C is for Caffeine

1.5 is for the hours of sleep I got