Camille Saint-Saëns
Introduction and Rondo capriccioso Op.28
Saint-Saëns was a child prodigy and a highly successful
musician – pianist, organist and composer – at an early age. He wrote no less
than eight concerted works for violin and orchestra, of which this showpiece is the first
and best known. Composed in 1863 and published in 1870, it has enjoyed unabating
popularity since the day its dedicatee, the famous Pablo Sarasate, played it, setting a
standard for all the violin virtuosi that have followed him.
The Introduction, marked Andante (malinconico), poses in A
minor the question to which the succeeding Rondo capriccioso, with its two themes,
supplies at first a hesitant but chirpy and then smoother answer. Both themes then spun
out, until the final Piu allegro in the tonic major adds a breathless but clinching
conclusion.
© Felix Aprahamian 1999