Saint-Saëns, Camille

Saint-Saëns, Camille – Violin Concerto No. 1 in A major, Op. 20

(b. Paris, 9 October 1835 – d. Algiers, 16 December 1921)

Preface
One of the most important French composers of the romantic age, Camille Saint-Saens was also one of the greatest child prodigies and intellects in all of music history. He began piano lessons before the age of three and shortly thereafter started composing, having already learned to read and write. He was reading and analyzing full orchestral scores at age 5, and performed his first public recital at that age, accompanying a Beethoven violin sonata. At age ten, he presented a concert that included Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, a Mozart Concerto, along with works of Bach, Handel, and Hummel. For his encore, the young prodigy offered to play any of the 32 Beethoven Piano Sonatas from memory. He displayed the same genius and lifelong eclectic intellectual curiosity in learning languages, advanced mathematics, archeology, botany, acoustics, history, philosophy, literature, geology, and astronomy. …

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