As a young musician, Camille Saint-Saëns quickly distinguished himself as a formidable organist, winning several prizes for his performances on the instrument. It is therefore hardly surprising that, alongside his studies and early professional activity, he devoted considerable attention to organ composition. The Fantaisie No. 1 in E-flat Major was written in 1857, during the period when Saint-Saëns served as organist at the church of Saint-Merri in Paris. Although an early work, the Fantaisie already reveals many of the qualities that would later define Saint-Saëns’s mature style: clarity of form, elegance of gesture, and an instinctive understanding of the organ’s expressive and coloristic possibilities. The piece opens with a low, restrained chord, from which emerges a gentle and flowing melody. Its rhythm is lively yet light, almost playful, suggesting that the work is conceived primarily for pleasure rather than for solemn display. Any sense of monumentality or liturgical gra...
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