Saint-Saëns conducts, plays and speaks
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 เม.ย. 2011
- Rare film and recordings of Saint-Saëns: the silent film of Saint-Saëns conducting was made by Sacha Guitry in 1914 as part of his movie celebrating famous French artists, "Ceux de chez nous". The audio is of Saint-Saëns playing the opening of his Piano Concerto no.2 and improvisation on 'Africa' op.89 (recorded Paris, 26 June 1904) and speaking (just audible at the end of the 1904 recording session). Also included are some rare still images of Saint-Saëns including an 1850 daguerreotype and a copy of his Paris debut program from 6 May 1846.
For more rare recordings of Saint-Saëns visit Jack Gibbons' Facebook page at
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Saint Saens was born in 1835. Watching this is like being in a time machine.
Yes, if we can go back to the time when saint saens was alive, we can interview him
Anything that we watch, and isn't LIVE, is "like being in a time machine", no? Then again, even live broadcasts lag.
What an honour to hear an amazing pianist who met Liszt,Rubinstein and was himself one of greatest pianists ever!!!
*pianists and composers
I imagine if he actually met Chopin...
Saint-Saëns started his career when Chopin was at the top of the game. Incredible seeing him on video.
He was one of the longest-lived composers. Died at 86.
Not bad for someone who was very sickly as a child.
Just imagine if someone like Chopin lived to that age
@@Ace-dv5ce bro would've wrote 556 etudes , 1284 mazurkas , 289 sonatas
@@Mehrshad84Or maybe he would put rossini,sibelius card and stop or write very little music.
You are listening to the playing of a man born in 1835. I think that's remarkable!
Sure not that problem if you look closely at him you may discover that hi is too old, and he is age is 80 year, meaning that record was takin after 1910...... 😅🤔
@@omranalomari3571 yes
@@omranalomari3571 what?
I wonder if anyone has ever compared Saint-Saëns with Mozart as a child prodigy. Lucky for us, he lived much, much longer than Mozart He started playing the piano and composing before he was 5 years old. At 10, after a piano recital, he offered the audience, as an encore piece, the choice of any of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas, which he would play from memory. He was also a superb organist, not to mention his other compositions, including operas and works for piano, cello, other instruments, and the orchestra. It's not coincidental that he called into service piano and organ in his 3rd Symphony. I'm grateful and greatly appreciate the efforts of those who prepared and made this rare film available to the public.
I actually heard this very comparison being made on a podcast I was listening to some time ago, and according to what they said there Saint-Saëns was at least comparable if not arguably "more" talented. But supposedly his mother kept him away from the public eye, not wanting to repeat what Mozart's father did. Either way, incredible to hear him play.
Good to see saint-saens alive here, Man it feels like time travelling
Just a note to say that the two gentlemen listening to Saint-Saëns in the photo, from 4.02 to 4.12, are Clarendon Henry Pfeiffer, the Manager at the time of the Aeolian Concert Hall in New York, and William Creary Woods, the main producer and editor for the Duo-Art, the Aeolian Company's reproducing piano, for which Saint-Saëns recorded in 1915. The location is almost certainly the Duo-Art recording studio, with one of the two Weber recording pianos that they used. An original copy of the photograph is at the Library of Congress. Mr Pfeiffer is sometimes (CD booklets etc.) mistakenly identified as H.B. Tremaine, President of the Aeolian Company, but the two men don't really resemble each other, apart from the central parting. Pfeiffer spoke good enough French to have been able to converse with Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians when she visited Aeolian, so he must have been a natural choice to share in hosting Saint-Saëns.
Thank you for this invaluable information.
Love this fella's piano concertos - and the christmas pudding on his head at 4:14
Dang, that's some great historical footage right there!
You should acknowledge the fact that this original silent short movie was filmed by French playwright/cinematographer Sacha Guitry as part of a series of famous French artists including: Renoir, Rodin, Monet, etc,,, called "Ceux de chez nous" and released in 1954. Sacha Guitry's commentary on each segment is fascinating. He narrates with many lively anecdotes how he convinced Camille St Saens to accept to be filmed. You can watch many segments of these original short films on youtube, with Sacha Guitry introducing each segment.
+Thierry Chaunu Many thanks for the additional information. I have updated the acknowledgements on this video.
+Jack Gibbons Thank you Jack, much appreciated (in memory of Sacha Guitry!) Yours sincerely
I do not know why music was placed under the film with the conducting. I would recommend switching off the sound, because then you realize that he was a good conductor with an exact sense of rhythm.
I got chills.
Saint-Saens was about the closest we get to a direct predecessor of Rachmaninoff in terms of musical intellect, superb pianism, excellent composing abilities though I don't know what to make of his conducting. Rachmaninoff was an outstanding conductor.
And one of the great youth prodigies like Mendelssohn and Mozart.
Hum, and what "criteria" would you provide to support your OPINION of these or conductors you point to? Interesting that you tie the Frenchman to the Russian, I've never heard of the link before. Wouldn't one of the great Russian teachers be a better link? Do I misunderstand that not long before Rachmaninoff moved center stage the Russians were trying to avoid European influences! Matter-of-fact Rach's teachers were those very same men! Therefore, don't you think, old Rach might be offended that you make this leap? I've seen some very "strange" conducting on the podium. For example, take a look at Valery Gergiev: th-cam.com/users/results?search_query=valery+gergiev - no less CHIEF conductor of the Munich Philharmonic! The greatest all-around conductor IMO was Leonard Bernstein. But there have been and still are many great conductors. I would not dare to criticize someone so brilliantly gifted as Saint-Saens! My college prof, who taught us about conducting, was a genius, and he kept a tiny little beat pattern right in front of his chest. He explained that all the foofaraw is unnecessary i.e., all that wild waving of arms and dancing on the podium. He said that the conductor's job is to deeply understand the compositions, i.e., what the composer was/is trying to say. Then to teach it to the orchestra so he might influence the orchestra's interpretation. I happen to agree, what do you think?
@@mikekarren5010 I think you make a number of extremely valid points. I have studied conducting in my time. I never pursued it. My reaction to Saint-Saens' style might be similar to the reports I have read about Schumann's conducting, which everybody who wrote about it agreed he was a far better composer than a conductor. I note that Rachmaninoff had a third career as a conductor. I'm not sure Saint-Saens got lots of offers to conduct. Again, you seem to have greater knowledge of these matters than I do so I will defer to your expertise.
Rachmaninoff is nothing
Fantastic , I'm impressed... to see him alive , incredible
If only things had been more developed in that field for the recording of Brahms. As far as that goes - how wonderful it would be to to hear J.S.B!!
true, but this recording from 1904 is splendid (considering that the contraption had only been invented about a decade before)
Oh, I couldn`t agree more; I am amazed that that is 1904! It sounds really good - especially when you bear in mind that it has had goodness knows how many heavy weight applications of steel needle on it`s groove! (Maybe thorns were used). The piano sounds far more natural than recordings I`ve heard from much later!
There is one recording of Brahms, but you can barely hear what it is being played
There is a recording of him playing Josef Strauss’ “Die Libelle”
@@klop4228 How sadly true!
Thank you for truly wonderful, priceless footage. I often think of Saint-Saens as the “father of exoticism” when it comes to his colorful, gorgeous & idiosyncratic works (other great composers that come to mind such as Charles Koechlin or Granville Bantock were both born more than 30 years after Saint-Saens!). Saint-Saens’s music has a certain undeniable magic to it, and I’m so very grateful for it 😌
A real treasure!
Wow, could he play !!!!
Claudio Arrau no less said that Saint-Saëns had the greatest finger technique he had ever heard.
where can I find the source of this information?
In the book Conversations with Arrau by Joseph Horowitz. Arrau said he had the smoothest scales he ever heard, but was an icy performer
This is wonderful! So happy this exists.
can‘t believe see Saint Saens himself
Wonderful! Thank you so much for opening this window on the past for us!
Lol I can hear the orchestra in my head as he plays his 2nd Piano Concerto
Beautiful music, Priceless audio and footage !
Dios Santo!! Increible. Aunque hoy día nadie lo toca tan rápido!!
Fantastic pianism.
Haven't gotten past 5 secs yet but just had to say, this is awesome!
Thank you very much!! his voice!!
Un tesoro valiosísimo poder VER y OÍR a un genio de la música!! Emocionante!!
Cierto. Bastante menospreciado en general, pero realmente un genio. En precocidad está a la par con Mendelssohn y a muy poca distancia de Mozart.
Thanks for this fantastic historical document!
Thank you for sharing this video! Truly amazing.
Thank you Mr. Gibbons. I really appreciate your informative videos.
This is great Thank you
Wonderful!
WOW!! WONDERFUL!!! Thank you for sharing this with us.
In the early days of disc recording (and I am not sure if this is a record or a piano roll) there were time constraints for the amount of music on each side of the disc. Works were often played faster than they would have been in a live performance in order to get an entire movement (or two) on one side without breaking in the middle of a phrase.
78 rpm , I think you can hear that. And Saint-Saens took fast tempi. ( My young years by A. Rubinstein )
Amazing!! Brilliant!!!
wonderful thank you for this upload! must have taken a lot of time to prepare so nicely
Quel extraordinaire pianiste il était !!
Un document exceptionnel !
Merci mille fois à Jack Gibbons.
Thank you. I love this.
I have no word
He said (with a very very strong Parisian accent):
"Des heures, je pourrais jouer pour des heures, je dois m'arrêter!"
"Hours!, I could play for hours! I have to stop"
Soit j'ai les esgourdes pourries, soit vous avez une excellente ouïe, dans le doute : bravo et merci !
How on earth did you manage to decipher what he said? I could not recognize a single word, even with the help of your transcript!
Thank you very much!
This is amazing! Thanks for putting this together - interesting to see an early photo of him sans beard. There's no doubt Saint Saens was an all round phenomenon.
Thanks!
Thanks for posting this! Had no idea it existed. Reminds me of the few seconds of Nikisch conducting on film. I have the St. Saens recordings on the Marston disc, and he remains a model for any pianist, regardless of all the time that has passed.
Awesome!
Chapeau!!
Holy shit, he died at 1921, and this is recorded in 1915, so in the recording, he is 80 years old
Listen to how it sounds, amazing In a letter he said he would like to play the half of how Liszt sounded 😲
It's amazing ! :D
Incredible.
FANTASTIQUE!
De fato, uma raridade.
5:10 damn, everyone's cute when they're young.
Italics Mine Not sure about everyone, but he was gorgeous...
*Love.
Incredible
Incroyable, ce retour en arrière ! Et le petit arrangement sur le 2d concerto pour piano est bizarre... Mais j'ai eu beau écouter, je ne l'ai pas entendu parler...
Que lindo
Yes, this was often done, but in this case Saint Saens just made cuts. The tempi of his piano rolls of these pieces is identical, but of course the rolls play the full uncut version.
WHO TF COULD DISLIKE THIS!
Maybe those guys who propose the theory of the half beat metronome. This historic recording of a XIX century virtuoso tears their theory down to pieces.
Like Rachmaninoff, he plays his own concerto and Africa faster than future pianists.
Conclusion (to the audio-part): Don't get fooled by his appearance in most pictures (strict and dull schoolmaster), he played, not only with a superb technique, but also with passion and emotion. To nowadays interprets, wasn't he more a (harmonically) old-fashioned Liszt than a French Beethoven?
Étonnant témoignage !
It's kind of funny to watch him conduct the piano solo cadenza from the beginning of his concerto. It kind of fits, but the idea of someone actually conducting a soloist is just kind of funny.
Yeah, he's conducting himself play at the piano 😂
@OrangeSodaKing Hello. The biggest reason for the fast tempo was to squeeze as much of the piece onto a wax cylinder or 78 RPM record.
Surprised at the much faster tempo SS uses than is customary today.
I've done that in front of my piano at least a thousand times, and it never so much as once produced a single note.
Wonderful footage and recording!!!! It's funny that it feels to me he is playing too fast his own concerto (he is obviously not wrong, it's just my personal taste 😛)
He wrote the concerto for himself, so he was obviously a good pianist.
Does anyone know which work Saint-Saens is conducting?
In the Hall of the Mountain King in waltz ;p
Indeed, it is the Gipsy Dance from his Opera Henry VIII.
Anyone understood, WHAT he said to the engineer at the end ???
I 'm dazed ! I can't believe we have this! Ravel lived even longer but left (everyone says they are bad recordings others say Casadesus made the piano recordings because Ravel didn't want to.. S.S sounds good and it's interesting he kind of "entertaining,wild" style. All the piano works are something nothing is like the 1st pf.concerto. The African concerto too frothy for me.The violin concerti not played often the cello concerto is! Ive never heard any of his Symphonies gonna change that !Would like to see film of him actually playing.
You can see Saint-Saëns playing here: th-cam.com/video/MA1ffxiCOU8/w-d-xo.html
No entiendo qué tiene que ver aquí Ravel.
does anyone know what compositions are being played while he is conducting?
The first one is the opening of his second piano concerto
@@AdamGillett thank you!!
@@RRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH sorry for the wait! The other piece is Africa op. 89 (both on one of the last title card) - the Hough recording of the pc no. 2 would be my recommendation btw
@@AdamGillett Much appreciated, Adam! i'm going to enjoy these tonight.
He composed his first piano composition when he was 4 years old?
Oui.
on entend sa voix....que dit il ? on saura jamais..
Was better with orchestra than that with the piano music.
When does he speak? I can't find this part
6:37
@@eatablelove Oh, thank you :)
@@tamillab1251 my pleasure!
That can't be a daguerreotype of Saint-Saens at 5:17. Almost certainly it's Anton Rubinstein.
Actually is a young Saint-Säens
I thought he was mute
He doesn't miss a note, does he? Very interesting, a lot of fireworks lacking for want of a tempo perhaps a little slower and more musical.
Idk it looks more like Rubinstein daguerreotype 5:25
Someone colorise this please
I truly wish there were some
video recordings of Rachmaninoff playing
Actually, there are
@@losttales364 Please, enlighten us.
@@losttales364 - No, there aren't any films of Rachmaninov playing piano.
why does nobody play this this fast today..can they not?..not play it proply?..why do they bother then to play it at all..
It's an extremely hard piece. A lot of leaps in the left hand which are more than an octave apart. It takes a very professional virtuosic soloist to master this piece.
so they were all humans, after all.
Dirige horrible jajajaja, pero es un genio...
WOW, WHAT A TREASURE TO BE ABLE TO SEE AND HEAR ONE OF THE LAST OF THE "ALL AROUND" GREAT COMPOSERS IN LIVING MOTION, BEFORE THE WORLD FELL SO FAR AS WE HAVE TODAY, WHERE THE WORLD IS WORSHIPING REPETITIVE POP CRAP, VOMITED UP BY SIMPLETONS LIKE "prince" - AND HIS PASSING, AS IF HE WERE GREATNESS, (HE WAS THE MOST OVER-RATED "musician" OF ALL TIME) AND NOT EVEN KNOWING THE NAMES OF THE TRUE ETERNAL GIANTS OF ALL TIME.......ONE LITTLE DITTY OF "THE SWAN" WAS WORTH MORE THAN THE ENTIRE CATASTROPHE OF THE CAREER OF THE PURPLE ONE.....
COOL HOW SAINT-SAENS COULD PLAY THE PIANO SO WELL WITH HIS FEET LIKE THAT, AND STILL CONDUCT HIMSELF WITH THE UPPER BODY, THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN AN EVEN BETTER FILM IF THE CAMERAMAN WOULD'VE PANNED DOWN TO SHOW THE LOWER DIGITS GOING TO TOWN, LIKE HE DID SO WELL !!!
AT ANY RATE, THANKS BE TO JACK, AND THOSE GREAT MEN WITH CAMERAS AND MICROPHONES, WHO TOOK THE TIME TO SET UP THE DEVICES THAT COULD CAPTURE THIS LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE, FOR POSTERITY, TO SHOW US ONE OF THE GREAT COMPOSERS, LIVING AND MOVING, AND YES, ALMOST, MAYBE EVEN HUMAN !!!
I think you left caps lock on...
You're absolutely clueless about Prince.
BRAVO!!!!!
@@zmf-lf8wf No he's not. What did Prince do that has lasting value.
Is this a joke?
Wowo grazie bellissimi video storici.