Saint-Saëns

Saint-Saëns was a prodigious talent who gave his first piano recital at age 10, offering to play any Beethoven sonata from memory as an encore. His Organ Symphony (No. 3), Piano Concerto No. 2, and Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso are staples of the concert repertoire. The Carnival of the Animals, written as a private joke, became his most popular work after his death. He was a polymath who published papers on acoustics, wrote plays and poetry, and was an early champion of early music. His opera Samson and Delilah is one of the most performed French operas. Though he lived long enough to hear jazz and early film scores, his own style remained rooted in Classical clarity and elegant craftsmanship, which earned him both admirers and detractors.