Editing Camille Saint-Saëns (section)

==Honours and reputation==
Saint-Saëns was made a ''Chevalier'' of the [[Legion of Honour]] in 1867 and promoted to ''Officier'' in 1884, and ''Grand Croix'' in 1913. Foreign honours included the British [[Royal Victorian Order]] (CVO) in 1902, the Monégasque [[Order of Saint-Charles]] in 1904<ref>Houziaux, pp. 24–25</ref> and honorary doctorates from the universities of [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] (1893) and [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] (1907).<ref name=times/><ref>[http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U202564 "Saint-Saëns, Camille"], ''Who Was Who'', Oxford University Press, 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2015 {{subscription}}</ref>

[[File:Camille Saint-Saëns tombe intérieur.jpg|thumb|upright|Saint-Saëns's tomb in Montparnasse Cemetery]]In its obituary notice, ''The Times'' commented:
{{blockquote|The death of M. Saint-Saëns not only deprives France of one of her most distinguished composers; it removes from the world the last representative of the great movements in music which were typical of the 19th century. He had maintained so vigorous a vitality and kept in such close touch with present-day activities that, though it had become customary to speak of him as the ''doyen'' of French composers, it was easy to forget the place he actually took in musical chronology. He was only two years younger than [[Johannes Brahms| Brahms]], was five years older than [[Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky|Tchaikovsky]], six years older than [[Antonín Dvořák|Dvořák]], and seven years older than [[Arthur Sullivan|Sullivan]]. He held a position in his own country's music certain aspects of which may be fitly compared with each of those masters in their own spheres.<ref name=times>"M. Saint-Saëns", ''The Times'', 19 December 1921, p. 14</ref>|}}

In a short poem, "Mea culpa", published in 1890 Saint-Saëns accused himself of lack of decadence, and commented approvingly on the excessive enthusiasms of youth, lamenting that such things were not for him.{{refn|"''Mea culpa!'' Je m'accuse de n'être point décadent."<ref>Gallois, p. 262</ref>|group= n}} An English commentator quoted the poem in 1910, observing, "His sympathies are with the young in their desire to push forward, because he has not forgotten his own youth when he championed the progressive ideals of the day."<ref>"M. Saint-Saëns's Essays", ''The Times Literary Supplement'', 23 June 1910, p. 223</ref> The composer sought a balance between innovation and traditional form. The critic [[H. C. Colles|Henry Colles]], wrote, a few days after the composer's death:
{{blockquote|In his desire to maintain "the perfect equilibrium" we find the limitation of Saint-Saëns's appeal to the ordinary musical mind. Saint-Saëns rarely, if ever, takes any risks; he never, to use the slang of the moment, "goes off the deep end". All his greatest contemporaries did. Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and even Franck, were ready to sacrifice everything for the end each wanted to reach, to drown in the attempt to get there if necessary. Saint-Saëns, in preserving his equilibrium, allows his hearers to preserve theirs.<ref>Colles, H. C. "Camille Saint-Saëns", ''The Times Literary Supplement'', 22 December 1921, p. 853</ref>|}}

''Grove'' concludes its article on Saint-Saëns with the observation that although his works are remarkably consistent, "it cannot be said that he evolved a distinctive musical style. Rather, he defended the French tradition that threatened to be engulfed by Wagnerian influences and created the environment that nourished his successors".<ref name=g2/>

Since the composer's death writers sympathetic to his music have expressed regret that he is known by the musical public for only a handful of his scores such as ''The Carnival of the Animals'', the Second Piano Concerto, the Third Violin Concerto, the Organ Symphony, ''Samson et Dalila'', ''Danse macabre'' and the Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso. Among his large output, Nicholas singles out the Requiem, the [[Oratorio de Noël|Christmas Oratorio]], the ballet ''Javotte'', the [[Piano Quartet in B-flat major (Saint-Saëns)|Piano Quartet]], the Septet for trumpet, piano and strings, and the First Violin Sonata as neglected masterpieces.<ref name=nicholas /> In 2004, the cellist [[Steven Isserlis]] said, "Saint-Saens is exactly the sort of composer who needs a festival to himself&nbsp;... there are Masses, all of which are interesting. I've played all his cello music and there isn't one bad piece. His works are rewarding in every way. And he's an endlessly fascinating figure."<ref name=duchen />