Adagio and Variations for flute and piano from opera Ascanio: Airs de Ballet d'Ascanio
C. Saint-Saëns: Airs de Ballet d'Ascanio or Adagio and Variations for flute and piano from opera Ascanio. The opera was composed in 1888 and premiered in Paris in 1890 but was not received well. Ballet music or Divertissement of 12 dances from the third act of the opera Ascanio is considered the most popular excerpt from this opera. Ascanio is a young apprentice of renown sculptor Benvenuto Cellini who works at the court of François I, the king of France who wants to merry beautiful Colombe.
National Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Gerhardt (conductor), 1976, BMG Music
1. Poco adagio, 2. Andantino
Saint-Saëns Camille
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher who is mostly renowned for his opera "Samson et Dalila", Symphony No 3 (Organ) and "Le Carnaval des Animaux" (The Carnaval of Animals) for small orchestra: humorous fantasy that was not performed during his lifetime.
Gifted pianist and organist, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and served as a church organist for twenty years at renown "La Madeleine" church in Paris which was built to represent the glory of Napoleon's army. For less than 5 years he taught at École de Musique Classique et Religieuse in Paris where Gabriel Fauré and Maurice Ravel were among his students. Even though Saint-Saëns admired some works of modern music of his time composed by R.Schumann, F.Liszt and R.Wagner, he was in conflict with impressionist and dodecaphonic schools of music and regarded as a conservative, even reactionary figure in music around the turn of the 20th century.