Saint-Saëns and the Stage PDF Download

Author: Hugh Macdonald
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108426387
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 449

View

Book Description
The first major study of Saint-Saëns's stage music, timed to coincide with revivals of his operas on stage.

Author: Brian Rees
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571287050
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 432

View

Book Description
Camille Saint-Saëns began as a child prodigy and was acclaimed in his lifetime as the incarnation of French genius. His was one of the longest careers in musical history, stretching from the traditions of Beethoven to the innovations of the twentieth century, including one of the earliest film scores. As a virtuoso pianist he achieved international fame, while Liszt proclaimed him the world's greatest organist. A prolific composer, there is much more to him than his best-known work, the witty Carnival of the Animals, of which he forbade performances in his lifetime. Among his most notable achievements are the opera Samson et Delila and the Organ Symphony, while the Danse Macabre, second piano concerto and first cello concerto remain much loved.As a young man, he supported the 'new music' of Liszt, Wagner and Berlioz and introduced the symphonic poem into French music. He championed an up-and-coming generation of French composers, most notably Fauré, and played a unique part in transforming French taste from grand opera and operetta to the classical forms of symphony and chamber music, at the same time reviving interest in the music of Bach and Rameau.His personal life was combative, tragic and surrounded by rumour: as a boy during the Revolution of 1848, serving as a National Guard in the war of 1870, and eventually becoming something of an icon of the Third Republic, used in diplomacy as a symbol of French culture.This fascinating book (Chatto & Windus 1999) places his long and controversial career in a turbulent period when music, no less than politics, was undergoing sensational and often stormy change.

Author: Timothy Flynn
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135577234
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 243

View

Book Description
A key figure in establishing an identifiable French musical style in the nineteenth century, this annotated biliography catalogs the studies of Saint-Saens' life and works as well as examining the composer's own correspondence and essays. Included are many lesser-known writings on the composer and his music, as well as recent scholarship which re-examines his place in music history.

Author: Katy Flint
Publisher: Frances Lincoln Children's Books
ISBN: 0711249520
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 25

View

Book Description
The next title in this best-selling sound series reimagines Carnival of the Animals, one of the most famous suites of music for children, by Camille Saint-Saens.

Author: Camille Saint-Saëns
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Librettos
Languages : fr
Pages : 36

View

Book Description

Author: Rollin Smith
Publisher: Pendragon Press
ISBN: 9780945193142
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 374

View

Book Description
Hailed by Franz Liszt as the world's greatest organist, Camille Saint-Saëns was revered by his contemporaries for his ingenious improvisations, his mastery of the art of registration, his virtuosity, and his eclectic organ compositions. Saint-Saëns's technique and style developed out of what remained of the French classic tradition that survived into 19th century use, bridged the entire career of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, and continued well into the 20th century. Rollin Smith, author of The Organ Works of César Franck, provides an insightful biographical view of Saint-Saëns as organist and composer, including detailed chapters on the construction and settings of instruments he played (the harmonium, the Aeolian organ, and the Cavaillé-Coll organs, among others). Within the eleven appendices are essays by and about Saint-Saëns; recordings of his performances; specifications of selected organs that he played; and a thematic catalogue of his works for harmonium and organ.

Author: Jann Pasler
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400845106
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 426

View

Book Description
A revealing look at French composer and virtuoso Camille Saint-Saëns Camille Saint-Saëns—perhaps the foremost French musical figure of the late nineteenth century and a composer who wrote in nearly every musical genre, from opera and the symphony to film music—is now being rediscovered after a century of modernism overshadowed his earlier importance. In a wide-ranging and trenchant series of essays, articles, and documents, Camille Saint-Saëns and His World deconstructs the multiple realities behind the man and his music. Topics range from intimate glimpses of the private and playful Saint-Saëns, to the composer's interest in astronomy and republican politics, his performances of Mozart and Rameau over eight decades, and his extensive travels around the world. This collection also analyzes the role he played in various musical societies and his complicated relationship with such composers as Liszt, Massenet, Wagner, and Ravel. Featuring the best contemporary scholarship on this crucial, formative period in French music, Camille Saint-Saëns and His World restores the composer to his vital role as innovator and curator of Western music. The contributors are Byron Adams, Leon Botstein, Jean-Christophe Branger, Michel Duchesneau, Katharine Ellis, Annegret Fauser, Yves Gérard, Dana Gooley, Carolyn Guzski, Carol Hess, D. Kern Holoman, Léo Houziaux, Florence Launay, Stéphane Leteuré, Martin Marks, Mitchell Morris, Jann Pasler, William Peterson, Michael Puri, Sabina Teller Ratner, Laure Schnapper, Marie-Gabrielle Soret, Michael Stegemann, and Michael Strasser.

Author: Camille Saint-Saëns
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Animals
Languages : en
Pages : 0

View

Book Description

Author: Camille Saint-Saëns
Publisher:
ISBN: 0195320166
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 200

View

Book Description
Camille Saint-Saens is a memorable figure not only for his successes as a composer of choral and orchestral works, and the eternally popular opera Samson et Dalila, but also because he was a keen observer of the musical culture in which he lived. A composer of vast intelligence and erudition, Saint-Saens was at the same time one of the foremost writers on music in his day. From Wagner, Liszt and Debussy to Milhaud and Stravinsky, Saint-Saens was at the center of the elite musical and cultural fin de siecle and early 20th Century world. He championed Schumann and Wagner in France at a period when these composers were regarded as dangerous subversives whose music should be kept well away from the impressionable student. Yet Saint-Saens himself had no aspirations to being a revolutionary, and his appreciation of Wagner the composer was tempered by his reservations over Wagner the philosopher and dramatist, suspicious as he was of what he called "the Germanic preoccupation with going beyond reality." Whether defending Meyerbeer against charges of facility or Berlioz against those who questioned his harmonic grasp, Saint-Saens was always his own man: in both cases, he claimed, it was "not the absence of faults but the presence of virtues" that distinguishes the good composer.Saint-Saens's writings provide a well-argued counter-discourse to the strong modernist music critics who rallied around Debussy and Ravel during the fin de siecle. And above all, they demonstrate a brilliantly sharp and active brain, expressing itself through prose of a Classical purity and balance, enlivened throughout with flashes of wit and, at times, of sheer malice.In this generously annotated volume, renowned scholar, seasoned translator and radio broadcaster Roger Nichols brings some of the composer's most striking and evocative writings brilliantly to life in English translation, many for the first time. Nichols has carefully chosen these selections for their intrinsic interest as historical documents to create a well-balanced and engaging view of the man, the music, and the age.

Author: Claude Summers
Publisher: Cleis Press Start
ISBN: 1573448753
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 299

View

Book Description
Aficionados of music, dance, opera, and musical theater will relish this volume featuring over 200 articles showcasing composers, singers, musicians, dancers, and choreographers across eras and styles. Read about Hildegard of Bingen, whose Symphonia expressed both spiritual and physical desire for the Virgin Mary, and George Frideric Handel, who not only created roles for castrati but was behind the Venetian opera's preoccupations with gender ambiguity. Discover Alban Berg’s Lulu, opera’s first openly lesbian character. And don’t forget Kiss Me Kate, the hit 1948 Broadway musical: written by Cole Porter, married though openly gay; directed by John C. Wilson, Noël Coward's ex-lover; and featuring Harold Lang, who had affairs with Leonard Bernstein and Gore Vidal. No single volume has ever achieved the breadth of this scholarly yet eminently readable compendium. It includes overviews of genres as well as fascinating biographical entries on hundreds of figures such as Peter Tchaikovsky, Maurice Ravel, Sergei Diaghilev, Bessie Smith, Aaron Copland, Stephen Sondheim, Alvin Ailey, Rufus Wainwright, and Ani DiFranco.