Camille Saint-Saëns

Symphony No. 3 in C Minor op. 78

The Symphony No. 3 in C minor, popularly known as the 'Organ Symphony', was completed in 1886 at what could be considered the artistic peak of Saint-Saens' career. The composer said of the work, 'I gave everything to it I ws able to give. What I have here accomplisehd, I will never achieve again.' Seeming to recognize that it would be his last attempt at the symphonic form, the composer filled the work with virtuoso piano passages, brilliant Romantic-era orchestral writing, and the sound of a cathedral-sized pipe organ.