Camille Saint Saëns (1835-1921)
French composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. Elegant and technically flawless, logical, clean, polished, professional, never excessive, occasionally lacking emotion. Saint-Saëns began his musical career as a musical pioneer, introducing to France the symphonic poem and championing the radical works of Liszt and Wagner at a time when Bach and Mozart were the norms. Later Saint-Saëns was an ultra-conservative, fighting the influence of Debussy and Richard Strauss.The Symphony No. 3 in C minor was completed by 1886 at what was probably the artistic zenith of his career. He had "given everything to it I was able to give." It was dedicated to Saint-Saëns's friend Franz Liszt, who died that year. Best known works:The Carnival of the Animals, Danse Macabre, Samson and Delilah, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, and his Symphony No. 3 (Organ).