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Camille Saint-Saëns

Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (UK: , US: , French: [ʃaʁl kamij sɛ̃ sɑ̃(s)]; 9 October 1835 – 16 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Second Piano Concerto (1868), the First Cello Concerto (1872), Danse macabre (1874), the opera Samson and Delilah (1877), the Third Violin Concerto (1880), the Third ("Organ") Symphony (1886) and The Carnival of the Animals (1886).

Saint-Saëns was a musical prodigy; he made his concert debut at the age of ten. After studying at the Paris Conservatoire he followed a conventional career as a church organist, first at Saint-Merri, Paris and, from 1858, La Madeleine, the official church of the French Empire. After leaving the post twenty years later, he was a successful freelance pianist and composer, in demand in Europe and the Americas.

As a young man, Saint-Saëns was enthusiastic for the most modern music of the day, particularly that of Schumann, Liszt and Wagner, although his own compositions were generally within a conventional classical tradition. He was a scholar of musical history, and remained committed to the structures worked out by earlier French composers. This brought him into conflict in his later years with composers of the impressionist and expressionist schools of music; although there were neoclassical elements in his music, foreshadowing works by Stravinsky and Les Six, he was often regarded as a reactionary in the decades around the time of his death.

Saint-Saëns held only one teaching post, at the École de Musique Classique et Religieuse in Paris, and remained there for less than five years. It was nevertheless important in the development of French music: his students included Gabriel Fauré, among whose own later pupils was Maurice Ravel. Both of them were strongly influenced by Saint-Saëns, whom they revered as a genius.

Birth and Death Data: Born 1835 (Paris), Died December 16, 1921 (Algiers)

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1902 - 1947

Roles Represented in DAHR: composer, arranger, piano

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings (Results 1-25 of 361 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Victor [Pre-matrix D-]2004 14-in. 1903 Selections from Samson and Delilah Victor Grand Concert Band Band composer  
Victor C-621 12-in. 11/2/1903 Mon coeur s'ouvre Louise Homer Contralto vocal solo, with piano composer  
Victor A-1237 7-in. 4/20/1904 The king's song Arthur Pryor's Band ; Walter Pryor ; Walter B. Rogers Band, with cornet duet composer  
Victor B-1237 10-in. 4/20/1904 The king's song Arthur Pryor's Band Band, with cornet duet composer  
Victor B-1292 10-in. 5/7/1904 Mon coeur s'ouvre Emma Juch Soprano vocal solo, with piano composer  
Victor C-2976 12-in. 1/3/1906 Mein Herz Ernestine Schumann-Heink Contralto vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor B-3027 10-in. 1/19/1906 Le cygne Joseph Hollman Cello solo, with piano composer  
Victor C-3230 12-in. 3/30/1906 My heart at thy sweet voice Emil Keneke Cornet solo, with band composer  
Victor C-3409 12-in. 5/24/1906 Déjanire overture Arthur Pryor's Band Band composer  
Victor C-3863 12-in. 10/9/1906 Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix Louise Homer Contralto vocal solo, with cello and orchestra composer  
Victor BVE-3863 10-in. 5/31/1927 Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix Louise Homer Contralto vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor C-4835 12-in. 9/25/1907 Le bonheur est chose légère Ellen Beach Yaw Soprano vocal solo, with violin and piano composer  
Victor B-6000 10-in. 2/27/1908 My heart at thy sweet voice Corinne Morgan Female vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor B-6227 10-in. 5/25/1908 Vengeance at last Emilio de Gogorza ; Louise Homer Vocal duet (contralto and baritone), with orchestra composer  
Victor C-6446 12-in. 9/23/1908 Marche héroïque Arthur Pryor's Band Band composer  
Victor C-6981 12-in. 4/12/1909 Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix Jeanne Gerville Contralto vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor C-6982 12-in. 4/12/1909 Printemps qui commence Jeanne Gerville Contralto vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor C-8295 12-in. 10/11/1909 Amour, viens aider Louise Homer Contralto vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor B-8492 10-in. 12/17/1909 Figlia miei v'arrestate Nicola Zerola Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor C-8811 12-in. 4/7/1910 Introduction and rondo capriccioso Mischa Elman Violin solo, with piano composer  
Victor B-9761 10-in. 1/5/1911 Marche héroïque Arthur Pryor's Band Band composer  
Victor B-9774 10-in. 1/9/1911 Samson e Dalila aria Guido Gialdini Whistling solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor C-10230 12-in. 4/25/1911 La brise Janet Spencer Contralto vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Victor B-11147 10-in. 10/28/1911 Le cygne Maud Powell Violin solo, with piano composer  
Victor B-11153 10-in. 10/30/1911 Arrêtez, oh mes frères Charles Dalmorès Tenor vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
(Results 1-25 of 361 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Saint-Saëns, Camille," accessed March 28, 2024, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102051.

Saint-Saëns, Camille. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102051.

"Saint-Saëns, Camille." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 28 March 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102051

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