Editing Camille Saint-Saëns (section)

===Early career===
[[File:Saint Merri Church Interior 2, Paris, France - Diliff.jpg|alt=interior of Gothic church|thumb|The church of [[Saint-Merri]], Paris, where Saint-Saëns was organist, 1853–57]]
On leaving the Conservatoire in 1853, Saint-Saëns accepted the post of organist at the ancient Parisian church of [[Saint-Merri]] near the {{Lang|fr|[[Hôtel de Ville, Paris|Hôtel de Ville]]|italic=no}}. The parish was substantial, with 26,000 parishioners; in a typical year there were more than two hundred weddings, the organist's fees from which, together with fees for funerals and his modest basic stipend, gave Saint-Saëns a comfortable income.<ref>Smith, p. 10</ref> The organ, the work of [[François-Henri Clicquot]], had been badly damaged in the aftermath of the [[French Revolution]] and imperfectly restored. The instrument was adequate for church services but not for the ambitious recitals that many high-profile Parisian churches offered.<ref>Rees, p. 65</ref> With enough spare time to pursue his career as a pianist and composer, Saint-Saëns composed what became his opus 2, the Symphony in E{{music|flat}} (1853).<ref name=fallon/> This work, with military fanfares and augmented brass and percussion sections, caught the mood of the times in the wake of the popular rise to power of [[Napoleon III]] and the restoration of the [[Second French Empire|French Empire]].<ref>Rees, p. 67</ref> The work brought the composer another first prize from the Société Sainte-Cécile.<ref>Studd, p. 30</ref>

Among the musicians who were quick to spot Saint-Saëns's talent were the composers [[Gioachino Rossini]], [[Hector Berlioz]] and [[Franz Liszt]], and the influential singer [[Pauline Viardot]], who all encouraged him in his career.<ref name=grove /> In early 1858 Saint-Saëns moved from Saint-Merri to the high-profile post of organist of [[La Madeleine, Paris|La Madeleine]], the official church of the Empire; Liszt heard him playing there and declared him the greatest organist in the world.<ref>Rees, p. 87; and Harding, p. 62</ref>

Although in later life he had a reputation for outspoken musical conservatism, in the 1850s Saint-Saëns supported and promoted the most modern music of the day, including that of Liszt, [[Robert Schumann]] and [[Richard Wagner]].<ref name=grove /> Unlike many French composers of his own and the next generation, Saint-Saëns, for all his enthusiasm for and knowledge of Wagner's operas, was not influenced by him in his own compositions.<ref>Nectoux, p. 39; and Parker, p. 574</ref><ref name=klein/> He commented, "I admire deeply the works of Richard Wagner in spite of their bizarre character. They are superior and powerful, and that is sufficient for me. But I am not, I have never been, and I shall never be of the Wagnerian religion."<ref name=klein>Klein, p. 91</ref>