Editing Camille Saint-Saëns (section)

===Concertante works===
Saint-Saëns was the first major French composer to write piano concertos. His [[Piano Concerto No. 1 (Saint-Saëns)|First]], in D (1858), in conventional three-movement form, is not well known, but the Second, in G minor (1868) is one of his most popular works. The composer experimented with form in this piece, replacing the customary [[sonata form]] first movement with a more discursive structure, opening with a solemn [[cadenza]]. The [[scherzo]] second movement and ''[[Tempo markings|presto]]'' finale are in such contrast with the opening that the pianist [[Zygmunt Stojowski]] commented that the work "begins like Bach and ends like Offenbach".<ref>Herter, p. 75</ref> The [[Piano Concerto No. 3 (Saint-Saëns)|Third Piano Concerto]], in E{{music|flat}} (1869) has another high-spirited finale, but the earlier movements are more classical, the texture clear, with graceful melodic lines.<ref name=schonberg/> The Fourth, in C minor (1875) is probably the composer's best-known piano concerto after the Second. It is in two movements, each comprising two identifiable sub-sections, and maintains a thematic unity not found in the composer's other piano concertos. According to some sources it was this piece that so impressed Gounod that he dubbed Saint-Saëns "the Beethoven of France" (other sources base that distinction on the Third Symphony).<ref>Anderson (1989), p. 3; and Deruchie, p. 19</ref> The Fifth and last piano concerto, in F major, was written in 1896, more than twenty years after its predecessor. The work is known as the "Egyptian" concerto; it was written while the composer was wintering in [[Luxor]], and incorporates a tune he heard Nile boatmen singing.<ref>Rees, p. 326</ref>

The [[Cello Concerto No. 1 (Saint-Saëns)|First Cello Concerto]], in A minor (1872) is a serious although animated work, in a single continuous movement with an unusually turbulent first section. It is among the most popular concertos in the cello repertory, much favoured by [[Pablo Casals]] and later players.<ref>Ratner (2002), p. 364</ref> The [[Cello Concerto No. 2 (Saint-Saëns)|Second]], in D minor (1902), like the Fourth Piano Concerto, consists of two movements each subdivided into two distinct sections. It is more purely virtuosic than its predecessor: Saint-Saëns commented to Fauré that it would never be as popular as the First because it was too difficult. There are three violin concertos; the first to be composed dates from 1858 but was not published until 1879, as the composer's [[Violin Concerto No. 2 (Saint-Saëns)|Second]], in C major.<ref>Ratner (2002), p. 340</ref> The First, in A, was also completed in 1858. It is a short work, its single 314-bar movement lasting less than a quarter of an hour.<ref>Ratner (2002), p. 343</ref> The Second, in conventional three-movement concerto form, is twice as long as the First, and is the least popular of the three: the thematic catalogue of the composer's works lists only three performances in his lifetime.<ref>Ratner (2002), p. 339</ref> The [[Violin Concerto No. 3 (Saint-Saëns)|Third]], in B minor, written for [[Pablo de Sarasate]], is technically challenging for the soloist, although the virtuoso passages are balanced by intervals of pastoral serenity.<ref>Anderson (2009), pp. 2–3</ref> It is by some margin the most popular of the three violin concertos, but Saint-Saëns's best-known concertante work for violin and orchestra is probably the [[Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso]], in A minor, Op. 28, a single-movement piece, also written for Sarasate, dating from 1863. It changes from a wistful and tense opening to a swaggering main theme, described as faintly sinister by the critic Gerald Larner, who goes on, "After a multi-stopped cadenza&nbsp;... the solo violin makes a breathless sprint through the coda to the happy ending in A major".<ref>Larner, pp. 3–4</ref>