Apéro-concert : Saint-Saëns

Franz Liszt, the inventor of the symphonic poem—an orchestral work based on a historical, pictorial, or literary theme—left behind thirteen such works. *Les Préludes*, inspired by Lamartine, is the most masterful and logically concludes this program in a tsunami of passion. His friend Saint-Saëns followed in his footsteps with the famous *Danse macabre*, as well as *La Muse et le Poète* (a tender dialogue between solo violin and cello) and the spellbinding *Rouet d’Omphale* (which depicts, in a ceaseless whirl, the triumph of the cunning Omphale over Hercules). A friend of Saint-Saëns and the companion of the poet Catulle Mendès (portrayed as such by Renoir alongside their daughters), Augusta Holmès left behind, with *La Nuit et l’Amour*, one of the most sensuous works of French Romanticism.