Saint-Sa?ns is the first to create the genre of symphonic poetry and the opera "Samson and Delilah", which has won people's eternal memory and is praised for his efforts in pioneering French music. He was also a gifted pianist and organist, and the author of criticism, poetry, essays, and plays.
Saint-Sa?ns was born in Paris in 1835. His childhood life was ordinary, except for music. Although his father was an official in the Ministry of the Interior, he passed away two months after Saint-Sa?ns landed. He grew up smoothly under the care of his mother and grandmother. The young Saint-Sa?ns was extremely sensitive to sounds and loved to listen to the ticking of the clock and the "singing" of the teapot when the water boiled. His grandmother was his first music teacher, and he learned piano from her. When he was a child, his favorite musician was St. Beethoven, and his works were obviously influenced by him. Saint-Sa?ns was also a musical prodigy, and he was unprecedented: he started learning piano when he was just 2 and a half years old; he wrote his first piano piece just after his 3rd birthday; when he was 7 years old, he was officially learning from a teacher. Composed; the 10-year-old Saint-Sa?ns had already had a formal concert. At this time, he was able to recite any of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas without reading the score. He is also a person who can "do two things". For example, he often makes arrangements while chatting with others without missing a beat. Strangely, Saint-Sa?ns tried twice to win the Prix de Rome, but failed both times. He actually lost to some musicians who are almost forgotten today.
In 1848, he entered the Paris Conservatory of Music as an auditor, studying organ under Benoit and composition under Allévi. Once, the teacher checked the students' homework completion, but none of them could play the piece they should have prepared, but Saint-Sa?ns played the piece skillfully. The teacher immediately turned him into a formal student. In his youth, Saint-Sa?ns' talent was appreciated by many seniors. Berlioz praised him as "knowing everything, all he lacks is a little practical experience." Regardless of whether there is any suspicion of "exaggeration", the extraordinary talent of young Saint-Sa?ns is certain. Saint-Sa?ns met Liszt in 1852 and was influenced by him to turn to a "suite" layout in his symphonies and concertos. Liszt also praised his musical talent and called him the best organist in the world. .
Saint-Sa?ns was very supportive of newcomers and new works. He was the first French musician at that time to admire Wagner's operas, and the score of Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov" It was also Saint-Sa?ns who first brought it back to France from Russia. It can be said that Saint-Sa?ns was indispensable for the emergence of Impressionist music in France.
Saint-Sa?ns loved music creation. He once said: "I live in music, just like a fish lives in water." He felt that writing music was like the fruit of an apple tree, which was a very natural thing. During his life, he was not only active as a pianist and conductor in the music circles of France and other European countries at that time, but also composed as many as 169 musical works of various genres, which won people's love. Among the more outstanding works are "Carnival of the Animals", "Third Symphony", symphonic poem "Dance of the Skeletons" and "Introduction and Rondo Caprice", etc. Saint-Sa?ns also edited Rameau's works, wrote essays on music and philosophy, drama and poetry, and his collection "Musical Memories" has been translated into English. Because Saint-Sa?ns had more skillfully inherited and mastered the creative techniques of the classical tradition, and was familiar with the new developments and explorations in creative techniques of the new music genres at that time, his creations could inherit the classical tradition in both technique and style. It can also absorb new development results.
The symphonic poem "Dance of the Skeletons", also known as "The Dance of Death", was completed in 1874 and first performed in Paris in 1875. It is the most famous work among the four symphonic poems written by the author. The music is adapted from a poem of the same name by the French poet Cazaris, which describes the story of Death playing the violin for a group of skeletons in a cemetery. Although it is about death, the melody, especially the violin, is very beautiful. The melody of the music adopts the melody of "The Day of Wrath", the medieval apocalyptic hymn, which gives people a strange feeling and depicts the silent and terrifying atmosphere of the cemetery late at night. The whole work has a strong mysterious color.
Saint-Sa?ns' musical talent was revealed in many aspects. As a representative of the French Romantic School, Saint-Sa?ns also created a lot of romantic music. "Havana Dance" is one of them. The cheerful music rhythm brings people back to the dazzling and passionate music and art. world. This song is quite famous and is often chosen at European dance parties.