Camille Saint-Sa?ns的艺人档案
圣-桑 Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (1835.10.9—1921)
法国作曲家。1835年10月9日出生于法国巴黎，父亲出身于诺曼第附近的贫苦农家，母亲是水彩画家。父亲在圣-桑两个月大时去世，圣桑由母亲和伯母共同抚养，伯母是音乐家，于圣桑两岁半时开始教他弹琴。
圣-桑拥有惊人的音乐天份，五岁时写出附有钢琴伴奏的歌曲，七岁开始跟随史塔马替学琴，并和马雷登学作曲，十岁时和比利时的小提琴家贝塞姆斯合作演出贝多芬的小提琴奏鸣曲，几个月后更举办首次钢琴独奏会，演奏曲目包括巴赫、韩德尔、莫扎特及贝多芬等人的作品。1848年进入巴黎音乐院选修风琴和作曲，隔年获得院中风琴比赛第二名，1851年更获得首奖。
1852年首次竞争罗马大奖时失利，不过稍后以一首圣赛酉里颂歌得到巴黎圣赛西里音乐协会首奖，该曲并于同年十二月演出。
这一年圣桑还认识了李斯特，两人结为好友，李斯特的音乐对圣-桑日后的创作影响很大。1853年从音乐院毕业，第一份工作是到圣梅丽教堂担任风琴师。1853 年发表第一号交响曲，1856 年完成第二首交响曲，不过后来他却舍弃了这首曲子。
1857年获聘为玛德林大教堂风琴师，1861 年出任尼德麦尔音乐学校钢琴老师，这是圣桑一生中唯一从事的正式教职，佛瑞当时便曾受教于圣-桑门下。
1864年第二度角逐罗马大奖再次失败。1865 年完成第一部歌剧，之后又陆续写了《黄衣公主》等几部歌剧，不过初演时成绩都不理想。1868 年获颁法国政府荣誉勋章，表彰他对法国乐坛的贡献。
1875年圣-桑写了最著名的歌剧《参逊与黛丽拉》，不过遭巴黎歌剧院拒演，首演拖至1877年在李斯特的支持与指挥下于威玛演出。
1875年结婚，婚后三年的某一天长子不慎从窗台上落地身亡，几个星期后次子也突然夭折。接连失去两个孩子，他认为是因妻子疏于照顾，因此决意不再与妻子共同生活。同年圣桑利用和妻子度假的机会偷偷地溜走，妻子发现圣桑失踪后以为是发生了意外，几天后收到了圣桑来信表示决定永远不再回到她身边了。
1881年圣-桑入选为法国国家艺术院院士，巴黎的各大歌剧院才开始主动表示乐意演出他的歌剧作品。1883年，歌剧亨利八世首先登场，1892年参逊与黛丽拉也终于在巴黎演出，极为成功。
1886年完成了C小调第三号交响曲，由伦敦爱乐交响乐团举行首演，是圣-桑为了追念李斯特而写的作品，除了在结构上与传统交响曲不同外，更别出心裁的运用钢琴与管风琴。这首曲子推出后大受欢迎，成了圣桑所有作品中最常被演奏的曲目。
1893年获英国剑桥大学颁赠荣誉音乐博士学位，事实除了音乐外，圣桑也曾深入钻研天文学和物理学，是位业余科学家。此外他也写诗、写剧本、写评论文章，写哲学著述，而且精通多种语言，所以圣桑在音乐家当中可算是最博学的一位。
圣桑一生酷爱旅行，足迹遍布全球，他曾数度旅居北非，而阿尔及利亚组曲及非洲幻想曲就是描写他对北非的印象，另外他也曾访问中南半岛。1906年圣桑首次造访美国，并举行了多场音乐会。1916年应法国政府邀请，代表法国出席在旧金山举办的巴拿马-太平洋博览会，二度游美，此行他还顺道游历了南美洲各国。
1920年，85岁的圣-桑仍然到希腊及阿尔及利亚旅游。1921年冬天前往阿尔及利亚避寒，却突然去世于异乡，遗体被运回巴黎安葬，葬礼极为盛大而隆重。
法国作曲家卡米尔·圣-桑五岁开始作曲，十一岁即以钢琴家姿态登台演出，十三岁进巴黎音乐学院学管风琴和作曲，后在教堂任管风琴手，其中有四年在尼德梅耶尔音乐学校教钢琴。
1877年辞去教堂的职务，埋头作曲。他是法国民族音乐协会的创始人之一，积极从事音乐活动，又以钢琴家和指挥家身份到各国演出。其创作技巧纯熟，作品数量超过一百七十部，几乎涉及每个音乐领域，旋律流畅，和声典雅，结构工整，配器华丽，色彩丰富， 通俗易懂，但某些作品过于追求表面的华彩效果，质量不匀。
其代表作有管弦乐组曲《动物狂欢节》、交响诗《骷髅之舞》、《第一大提琴协奏曲》和小提琴与乐队的《引子与回旋随想曲》等。
[编辑本段]名人轶事
圣桑也是一位音乐神童，而且堪称空前绝后：他刚刚两岁半，就开始学习钢琴；三岁生日刚过，他就写出了第一首钢琴小品； 七岁时，他已经正式从师学习作曲了；十岁的圣-桑，已经开了个正式演奏会，这时的他竟然能够不看谱就背奏贝多芬的三十二首钢琴奏鸣曲中的任意一首。他还是一个能够“一心二用”的人，例如他经常一边搞配器，一边同别人闲聊，两不耽误。奇怪的是，圣-桑曾去争取罗马奖两次，但两次都失败了。他竟然输给了今天已几乎被人们全部忘记的一些音乐家们。
青年时代的圣-桑，其才华得到许多前辈的赏识。柏辽兹称赞他为“无所不知，缺少的不过是一点点实际经验”；李斯特听过圣-桑在管风琴上的即兴演奏之后，竟称他为“世界上最伟大的管风琴家”。不管是否有“言过其实”之嫌，青年圣-桑那超凡的才华是可以肯定的。中年时代的圣-桑，十分支持新人新作。他是当时法国音乐家中推崇瓦格纳歌剧的第一人，而穆索尔斯基的《鲍里斯·戈多诺夫》的总谱，也是圣-桑最先从俄国带回法国的。可以说，印象主义音乐能产生在法国，圣-桑功不可没。
然而有趣的是，晚年的圣-桑变得十分守旧，他对印象主义音乐大加贬斥。有一次，圣-桑听了德彪西的音诗《牧神午后》之后说：“听是好听的，但它不是真正意义上的音乐。如果它也可以算作音乐， 那么调色板也可以算作一幅画了。”圣-桑不仅无法容忍德彪西，对二十世纪先锋派音乐亦心存偏见。 斯特拉文斯基的舞剧《春之祭》初演之时，特意到场的圣-桑竟立刻勃然而起，拂袖而去。
Camille Saint-Saëns was something of an anomaly among French composers of the nineteenth century in that he wrote in virtually all genres, including opera, symphonies, concertos, songs, sacred and secular choral music, solo piano, and chamber music. He was generally not a pioneer, though he did help to revive some earlier and largely forgotten dance forms, like the bourée and gavotte. He was a conservative who wrote many popular scores scattered throughout the various genres: the Piano Concerto No. 2, Symphony No. 3 ("Organ"), the symphonic poem Danse macabre, the opera Samson et Dalila, and probably his most widely performed work, The Carnival of The Animals. While he remained a composer closely tied to tradition and traditional forms in his later years, he did develop a more arid style, less colorful and, in the end, less appealing. He was also a poet and playwright of some distinction.
Saint-Saëns was born in Paris on October 9, 1835. He was one of the most precocious musicians ever, beginning piano lessons with his aunt at two-and-a-half and composing his first work at three. At age seven he studied composition with Pierre Maledin. When he was ten, he gave a concert that included Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto, Mozart's B flat Concerto, K. 460, along with works by Bach, Handel, and Hummel. In his academic studies, he displayed the same genius, learning languages and advanced mathematics with ease and celerity. He would also develop keen, lifelong interests in geology and astronomy.
In 1848, he entered the Paris Conservatory and studied organ and composition, the latter with Halévy. By his early twenties, following the composition of two symphonies, he had won the admiration and support of Berlioz, Liszt, Gounod, Rossini, and other notable figures. From 1853 to 1876, he held church organist posts; he also taught at the École Niedermeyer (1861-1865). He composed much throughout his early years, turning out the 1853 Symphony in F ("Urbs Roma"), a Mass (1855) and several concertos, including the popular second, for piano (1868).
In 1875, Saint-Saëns married the 19-year-old Marie Truffot, bringing on perhaps the saddest chapter in his life. The union produced two children who died within six weeks of each other, one from a four-story fall. The marriage ended in 1881. Oddly, this dark period in his life produced some of his most popular works, including Danse macabre (1875) and Samson et Dalila (1878). After the tragic events of his marriage, Saint-Saëns developed a fondness for Fauré and his family, acting as a second father to Fauré's children.
But he also remained very close to his mother, who had opposed his marriage. When she died in 1888, the composer fell into a deep depression, even contemplating suicide for a time. He did much travel in the years that followed and developed an interest in Algeria and Egypt, which eventually inspired him to write Africa (1891) and his Piano Concerto No. 5, the "Egyptian". He also turned out works unrelated to exotic places, such as his popular and most enduring serious composition, the Symphony No. 3.
Curiously, after 1890, Saint-Saëns' music was regarded with some condescension in his homeland, while in England and the United States he was hailed as France's greatest living composer well into the twentieth century. Saint-Saëns experienced an especially triumphant concert tour when he visited the U.S. in 1915. In the last two decades of his life, he remained attached to his dogs and was largely a loner. He died in Algeria on December 16, 1921.
