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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

Composer of the Week - Brand

An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921)

Composer of the Week: Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921): Episode 1: Hens, Hugo and Havanaises

Episode 1

Episode 1: Hens, Hugo and Havanaises

Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921)

Hens, Hugo and Havanaises

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921), Hens, Hugo and Havanaises

Donald Macleod introduces a contrasting trio of pieces Saint-Saens composed in 1887.

Donald Macleod introduces a contrasting trio of pieces Saint-Saens composed in 1887, following success the previous year with Carnival of the Animals.

Beastly goings on as Noel Coward introduces the Carnival of the Animals. Plus, Saint-Saëns's much-loved Havanaise for violin and orchestra.

Camille Saint-Saëns reached the pinnacle of his career in 1886, when both his famous "Carnival of the Animals" and his "Organ" Symphony were first performed. He was 51 - and yet he'd live on for a further three-and-a-half decades, well into the age of Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Poulenc. His late works have often been unfairly neglected - seen as 'out of time' in a thrusting new century. This week, Donald Macleod explores the charming and eccentric variety of pieces Saint-Saëns left behind from the last decades of his life.

The week begins with a contrasting trio of pieces Saint-Saëns composed in 1887, following the huge success of the previous year. "La fiancée du timbalier" is a dramatic scene for soprano and piano, once popular at the BBC Proms but now out of favour - Felicity Lott brings it back to our attention. Then we hear the Latin-tinged Havanaise for violin and orchestra, perhaps the most popular of the composer's later works.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod explores the charming and eccentric variety of later works by Saint-Saens

Donald Macleod explores the charming and eccentric variety of later works by Camille Saint-Saens

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Composer of the Week

Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921)

Episode 1: Hens, Hugo and Havanaises

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