Saint-Saëns and the Stage Operas, Plays, Pageants, a Ballet and a Film Cambridge Studies in Opera Series

The stage works of Saint-Saëns range from grand open-air pageants to one-act comic operas, and include the first composed film score. Yet, with the exception of Samson et Dalila, his twelve operas have lain in the shadows since the composer's death in 1921. Widely performed in his lifetime, they vanished from the repertory - never played, never recorded - until now. With four twenty-first-century revivals as a backdrop, this timely book is the first study of Saint-Saëns's operas, demonstrating the presence of the same breadth and versatility as in his better known works. Hugh Macdonald's wide knowledge of French music in the nineteenth century gives a powerful understanding of the different conventions and expectations that governed French opera at the time. The interaction of Saint-Saëns with his contemporaries is a colourful and important part of the story.

1. Preparations for opera, Le Duc de Parme; 2. Le Timbre d'argent; 3. Samson et Dalila; 4. La Princesse jaune; 5. Etienne Marcel; 6. Henry VIII; 7. Proserpine; 8. Ascanio; 9. La Crampe des écrivains, Phryné; 10. Antigone, Frédégonde; 11. Javotte, Déjanire; 12. Lola, Les Barbares; 13. Parysatis, Botriocéphale, Andromaque, Le Roi Apépi, Hélène; 14. L'Ancêtre, La Foi; 15. L'Assassinat du Duc de Guise, Déjanire, On ne badine pas avec l'amour; 16. Saint-Saëns the Dramatist.

Hugh Macdonald's distinguished career has included appointments at the University of Cambridge, University of Oxford, University of Glasgow and Washington University, St Louis. He was General Editor of the New Berlioz Edition (1967–2006), and has published books on Skryabin, Berlioz and Bizet.