Saint-Saëns conducts, plays and speaks

Rare film and recordings of Saint-Saëns: the silent film of Saint-Saëns conducting was made by Sacha Guitry in 1914 as part of his movie celebrating famous French artists, “Ceux de chez nous“. The audio is of Saint-Saëns playing the opening of his Piano Concerto no.2 and improvisation on ’Africa’ (recorded Paris, 26 June 1904) and speaking (just audible at the end of the 1904 recording session). Also included are some rare still images of Saint-Saëns including an 1850 daguerreotype and a copy of his Paris debut program from 6 May 1846. For more rare recordings of Saint-Saëns visit Jack Gibbons’ Facebook page at