Name: Camille Saint-Saens

Born: October 9, 1835 in Paris, France
Died: December 16, 1921 in Algiers
Romantic period

Saint-Saens was an accomplished pianist and organist. He was a child prodigy who debuted as a pianist at age ten. In 1871, he helped create the Societe Nationale de Musique to promote French music. As a composer, Saint-Saens tends to write music that conforms to more traditional forms rather than pioneering in new structures. He also helped revive nearly extinct dance forms, such as the gavotte and bouree.
Saint-Saens began piano at 2 ½ years old under his aunt’s instruction. He created his first composition at 3, and at age 7, studied composition with Pierre Maledin. He was also gifted academically, learning other languages and advanced mathematics.
In 1875, he entered a dark period of his life, beginning with his marriage to Marie Truffot. Together, they had two children who died within six months of each other. One of the children died from a four-story fall. Shortly after that, his mother died in 1888, which caused him to go into depression and to think about suicide. However, it was also during his depressions that he composed some of the most famous pieces of his career, such as Samson and Delilah.
Unfortunately, after 1890, his music was somewhat looked down upon in France, even though outside of France, his music was celebrated and respected. During the last 20 years of his life, he was very close to his dogs, but isolated himself from other people until he died in Algeria.

Sources: http://www.saintsaens.com/ssbio/, World Book, and a music dictionary

Famous Works: Saint-Saens’ famous works include Carnival of the Animals, the opera Samson and Delilah, and Symphony No. 3 (nicknamed “Organ Symphony” for its unconventional use of an organ with full orchestra)

Saint-Saens is one of my favorite composers. Here are two of my favorite pieces that were composed by him.
Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor: This is really cool. There are two parts to the video.

Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor: Also really cool! I’ve been learning this for the past year ^^ Here’s the 1st mvt.