On Beethoven, Saint-Saens, and fossil-hunting

Synopsis

He was dubbed the "French Beethoven," and like Ludwig van, was famous as both a composer and a pianist. Camille Saint-Saëns was born in Paris in 1835, and died on today's date, at the age of 86, in 1921.

The death date seems rather fitting, in a macabre sort of way, since December 16th is also the date we celebrate as Beethoven's birthday. And imagine, if you will, the 10-year old Saint-Saens making his formal debut as a pianist at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, first performing a concerto by Beethoven, then, as an encore, offering to play any one of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas—from memory!

Saint-Saens's keyboard skills were legendary. An early admirer of Wagner, Saint-Saens once amazed that composer by playing entire scores of his operas at sight. Berlioz, another admirer, once quipped that Saint-Saens: "knows everything but lacks inexperience."

In addition to music, Saint-Saens was fascinated by mathematics, astronomy, and the natural sciences. As a young boy he collected fossils that he dug out himself from the stone quarries at Meudon. Maybe that experience inspired him years later to add a movement titled "fossils" to his "Carnival of the Animals," a chamber work he wrote as a private joke in 1886. Saint-Saens forbade its publication during his lifetime, and probably would have been appalled that this flippant work—and not his more serious symphonies or sonatas—has become his best-known and best-loved work.

Music Played in Today's Program

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) Variations on a theme of Beethoven Philippe Corre and Edouard Exerjean, pianos Pierre Verany 790041

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) Fossils, from Carnival of the Animals Martha Argerich, Nelson Freire, pianos; Markus Steckeler, xylophone; ensemble Philips 446557

On This Day

Births

• 1770 - German composer Ludwig van Beethoven, in Bonn; The date is not certain, but his birthday has been traditionally celebrated on this date; Beethoven was baptized the following day (Dec. 17, 1770);

• 1775 - French opera composer François Boieldieu, in Rouen;

• 1847 - French composer (of Irish parentage) Augusta Holmès (Holmes), in Paris;

• 1882 - Hungarian composer Zoltán Kódaly, in Kecskemét;

• 1899 - British playwright and songwriter Sir Noel Coward, in Teddington (Middlesex);

• 1932 - Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin, in Moscow;

Deaths

• 1921 - French composer and pianist Camille Saint-Saëns, age 86, in Algiers;

Premieres

• 1877 - Bruckner: Symphony No. 3 (2nd version), in Vienna, with the composer conducting;

• 1893 - Dvorák: Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World"), at Carnegie Hall, by the New York Philharmonic, Anton Seidl conducting; This was the "official " premiere (a public dress rehearsal had taken place the previous afternoon);

• 1894 - Emil von Reznicek: opera "Donna Diana," in Prague;

• 1921 - Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 3, by the Chicago Symphony conducted by Frederick Stock, with the composer as soloist;

• 1938 - Copland: "An Outdoor Overture," in New York City;

• 1946 - Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 3, in Moscow, by the Beethoven Quartet;

Others

• 1718 - J.S. Bach examines the organ at the Paulinerkirche in Leipzig;

• 1944 - American bandleader and trombonist Glenn Miller, age 40, dies in an air crash near England;