Saint-Saens knows everything, but he lacks inexperience. --Hector Berlioz It's safe to say that Camille Saint-Saens' life was far more interesting than his music. ********************** James Levine and the Berliner Philharmoniker Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 "Organ" Dukas: L'Apprenti Sorcier (The Sorcerer's Apprentice) Deutsche Grammophon, 1987 ********************** He was a true polymath: a musical prodigy, a scientist, a philosopher, a travel writer, a poet and a composer. He lived a life filled with tragedy: when Saint-Saens was in his early forties, his two-and-a-half-year-old son died in a fall from the balcony of his Paris apartment. Just six weeks later, his other son died of pneumonia at just seven months of age. And three years after these incomprehensible tragedies, he walked out on his wife--in the middle of a vacation they were taking together! He left a note for her at their hotel and simply left. Today we'll g...
"The study of the history of music and the hearing of masterworks of different epochs will speediest of all cure you of vanity and self-adoration."