Great Composer of Music

Title

Year

1941

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

204 THE YOUNG CITIZEN }UN£, 19.p MUSIC APPRECIATION SECTION GREAT COMPOSERS OF MUSIC SECOND SERIES By BERT PAUL OSBON* VI. SAINT-SAENS SAINTS A E N S, the greatestof prese n t-d a y F r ench co mposers, was an o th er c h i l d, mu s i ca l prodigy:· He himself s ays that when Saint-Saens he was a very young boy he took keen delight in listening to musical sounds. So it did not surprise his parents that he .early . developed ability to play the piano under the instruction of his aunt w ith whom he began to study music when he was two-and-a-half years old. When he was six years old he gave his first public piano recital. He continued to give concerts until he was more than eighty years old. This noted French genius was born in Par is in J 835. He was sixteen years old w hen he produced h is first symphony, and lived to become a great pianist and fam- · ous composer. He also became a wellknown organist, and played the organ at one of the large churches in Paris. •Formerly Supervisor of Public School Music, Mount Lebanon, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. From his (pronounced lent student. and versatile; cerity made where. earliest years Saint-Saens sahn-sahn) \.Yas an excel-· He was cultivated, alert, and his modesty and sinhim well-liked everyThis composer succeeded in writing almost every style of music. H e wrote symphonies, symphonic poems,-cha mbermusiC, songs, concerto;, oratbrios, and operas. H e w as a versatile and powerful composer. H is compositions include 5 symphonies, 4 symphonic poems, 5 piano concertos, and IO 'Operas. Saint-Saens traveled extensiV~ly, and gave concerts in many parts of the \\iorld. Throughout his life he retained •emarkable vigor, and thus was able to make pub.lie appearances until he was more than eighty years·old. T his gifted composer visited Algeria, and has pictured the Oriental life there in his charming Swite Algerienne. He was in America in 1906 and again in 1916. He was an amateur astronomer, and spent considerable time in his private observatory in the Canary I slands. He died in A lgiers in 1921. The greatest opera which Saint-Saens wrote·is Samson and D elilah, which is sometimes called a music-drama. It was first produced in 1877, and is often sung as an oratorio. This opera narrates the well-known Bible story of. the strong man Samson and the seductive Delilah who finally secured his downfall. You should hear a good sing~r sing one of the fam}UNE, 19 . .p THE YOUNG CITIZEN 205 ous solos from this opera which is called !Yly H eart at Thy Sweet Voice. An excellent phonograph record has . been made of this sdection. Another famous composition by Saint. Saens is called Danse Macabre. It p.ortrays the midnight revels of the spirits who rise from their graves on Hallow~5'.'en. By a clever orchestration ~he rat;i'tl'i11g of the bones of the skeletons is ··ifeard; then Death tunes his violin, and a l~vel y dance follows. This is finally interrupted by the nowin g o f the cock, and all the spirits and th e ir skeletons return to the graves. In an~ther co mp o s ition SaintSaens had the amusing idea of picturing in music the h ab it s of the elephants. Young people always en joy these tone-pictures, and you should hear them at the first opportunity. Try and learn to spell and pronounce this composer's name correctly (get a person who speaks French (o help you), and remember something about hi.s life and his music. QUESTIONS I. Who was Saint-Saws? 2. Can you spell and pronounce his name correct1 y? (sahnsa/111) 3. Tell of his early life as a boy. 4. Tell of his personal characteristics. 5. What kinds of music did SaintSaens write? birds animals. a nd H e Saint-Saens wrote music for a great symphony 6. Name some of his co mp o s itions. orche~tra like this one. wrote a series of little tone pictures called T he Carnival of the Animals. All of these may be heard by means of phonograph records. One of the little pictures in this series is ·called The Swan (Le Cygne in French) . This is a favorite solo, and is played on the violin, or the cello, or the organ. Another of these tone pictures suggests "the royal lion" as he walks 111qjestically and gives forth his mighty r~~( In another picture the hens and roost'ei are suggested in a very comical manner. Again1 a big, heavy tune depicts 7. Tell of his most famous opera. 8. T ell of hi ~ D anse Macabre. 9. Tell of his Carnival of ·1he A11imals. 10. Have you ever heard any of the music composed by Saint-Saens? 11. What is a tone-picture? 12. What are some of the tone-pictures in Saint-Saens' Carnival of the A11imals? . 13. D escribe the picture which you would see in your mind if you listened to Saint-Saens' D~11se !Ylacabre.

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