St Saens

St.~Saens, CHARLES CAMILLE (b. 1835), composer, born at Paris, entered the Conservatoire in 1847, and obtained several prizes. At the age of seventeen he composed his first sympbony, and in 1853 received his first appointment as organist. Five years later he became organist at the Madeleine. He gained the prize offered in 1867 by the International Exhibition for his cantata Les Noces de Promethee. In 1877 his sacred drama Samson et Delilah was produced at Weimar. He is one of the greatest of contemporary composers, and has made several visits to England to conduct his own works.