Editing Camille Saint-Saëns (section)

===Chamber===
Saint-Saëns wrote more than forty chamber works between the 1840s and his last years. One of the first of his major works in the genre was the Piano Quintet (1855). It is a straightforward, confident piece, in a conventional structure with lively outer movements and a central movement containing two slow themes, one chorale-like and the other ''cantabile''.<ref name=r2005 /> The [[Septet (Saint-Saëns)|Septet]] (1880), for the unusual combination of trumpet, two violins, viola, cello, double bass and piano, is a neoclassical work that draws on 17th-century French dance forms. At the time of its composition Saint-Saëns was preparing new editions of the works of [[Baroque music|baroque]] composers including Rameau and [[Jean-Baptiste Lully|Lully]].<ref name=g2 /> The ''[[Caprice sur des airs danois et russes]]'' (1887) for flute, oboe, clarinet and piano, and the [[Barcarolle in F major (Saint-Saëns)|Barcarolle in F major]] (1898) for violin, cello, harmonium and piano are further examples of Saint-Saëns's sometimes unorthodox instrumentation.<ref>Ratner (2002), p. 193–194</ref>

{{Quote box |bgcolor=#CEF6EC|salign=right| quote = Saint-Saëns's chamber works reveal the complete man: his sense of tradition coupled with imagination, his feeling for colour, his sense of humour, his desire for balance and symmetry, his love of clarity. |source= Sabina Teller Ratner, 2005<ref name=r2005>Ratner (2005), p. 6</ref>|align=left| width=30%}}In Ratner's view, the most important of Saint-Saëns's chamber works are the sonatas: two for violin, two for cello, and one each for oboe, clarinet and bassoon, all seven with piano accompaniment.<ref name=r2005/> The [[Violin Sonata No. 1 (Saint-Saëns)|First Violin Sonata]] dates from 1885, and is rated by ''Grove's Dictionary'' as one of the composer's best and most characteristic compositions. The [[Violin Sonata No. 2 (Saint-Saëns)|Second]] (1896) signals a stylistic change in Saint-Saëns's work, with a lighter, clearer sound for the piano, characteristic of his music from then onwards.<ref name=g2/> The [[Cello Sonata No. 1 (Saint-Saëns)|First Cello Sonata]] (1872) was written after the death of the composer's great-aunt, who had taught him to play the piano more than thirty years earlier. It is a serious work, in which the main melodic material is sustained by the cello over a virtuoso piano accompaniment. Fauré called it the only cello sonata from any country to be of any importance.<ref>Rees, p. 167</ref> The [[Cello Sonata No. 2 (Saint-Saëns)|Second (1905)]] is in four movements, and has the unusual feature of a theme and variations as its scherzo.<ref name="Rees, p. 381"/>

{{listen|type=music
|filename=Camille Saint-Saens - Sonata for bassoon with piano accompaniment (opus 168).ogg
|title=Sonata for bassoon with piano accompaniment (Op. 168, 1921)
|description=The [[Bassoon Sonata (Saint-Saëns)|Bassoon Sonata]], performed by [[Arthur Grossman]] on bassoon and Joseph Levine on piano
|filename2=JOHN MICHEL CELLO-SAINT SAENS CARNIVAL OF ANIMALS THE SWAN.ogg
|title2="Le cygne"
|description2=''[[Le cygne]]'' (The Swan) from ''[[The Carnival of the Animals]]'', performed by John Michel}}
The woodwind sonatas are among the composer's last works and part of his efforts to expand the repertoire for instruments for which hardly any solo parts were written, as he confided to his friend [[Jean Chantavoine]] in a letter dated to 15 April 1921: "At the moment I am concentrating my last reserves on giving rarely considered instruments the chance to be heard."{{refn|"En ce moment je consacre mes dernières forces à procurer aux instruments peu favorisés sous ce rapport les moyens de se faire entendre."<ref name="Ratner 2002, p. 236">Ratner (2002), p. 236</ref>|group= n}} Ratner writes of them, "The spare, evocative, classical lines, haunting melodies, and superb formal structures underline these beacons of the neoclassical movement."<ref name=r2005 /> Gallois comments that the [[Oboe Sonata (Saint-Saëns)|Oboe Sonata]] begins like a conventional classical sonata, with an andantino theme; the central section has rich and colourful harmonies, and the molto allegro finale is full of delicacy, humour and charm with a form of [[tarantella]]. For Gallois the [[Clarinet Sonata (Saint-Saëns)|Clarinet Sonata]] is the most important of the three: he calls it "a masterpiece full of impishness, elegance and discreet lyricism" amounting to "a summary of the rest".<ref>Gallois, p. 368</ref> The work contrasts a "doleful [[threnody]]" in the slow movement with the finale, which "pirouettes in 4/4 time", in a style reminiscent of the 18th century. The same commentator calls the [[Bassoon Sonata (Saint-Saëns)|Bassoon Sonata]] "a model of transparency, vitality and lightness", containing humorous touches but also moments of peaceful contemplation.<ref>Gallois, pp. 368–369</ref> Saint-Saëns also expressed an intention to write a sonata for the [[cor anglais]], but did not do so.{{refn|In the same letter to his friend Jean Chantavoine on 15 April 1921: "I have just written a sonata in three parts for the oboe, still unpublished. The clarinet, the cor anglais and the bassoon remain; their turn will come soon." ("Je viens d'écrire une sonate en trois parties pour le hautbois, encore inédite. Restent la clarinette, le cor anglais, le basson; leur tour viendra bientôt.")<ref name="Ratner 2002, p. 236">Ratner (2002), p. 236</ref>|group= n}}

The composer's most famous work, ''[[The Carnival of the Animals]]'' (1887), although far from a typical chamber piece, is written for eleven players, and is considered by ''Grove's Dictionary'' to be part of Saint-Saëns's chamber output. ''Grove'' rates it as "his most brilliant comic work, parodying Offenbach, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Rossini, his own ''Danse macabre'' and several popular tunes".<ref name=g2/> He forbade performances of it during his lifetime, concerned that its frivolity would damage his reputation as a serious composer.<ref name=duchen/>