Camille Saint-Saëns completed his Symphony No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 78, in 1886 at the height of his career, and conducted its premiere in London that same year. Commissioned by the Royal Philharmonic Society, the work is commonly known as the “Organ Symphony,” though the composer himself never used this title. Saint-Saëns was a virtuoso organist, and while the organ plays a striking role, it is woven into the orchestral fabric rather than featured as a soloist. The score also calls for piano four-hands, adding to the symphony’s distinctive color palette.

Saint-Saëns wrote, “I have given all that I had to give. What I have done I shall never do again.” Indeed, the Third Symphony stands as a culmination of his symphonic output, synthesizing influences from the entire history of Western music with the contemporary sounds of late nineteenth-century Paris. Dedicated to the memory of Franz Liszt, who died shortly before the work’s completion, the symphony employs Liszt’s technique of cyclical thematic transformation, allowing themes to evolve and reappear in various guises throughout the piece.

Although the symphony contains the four movements of classical tradition, Saint-Saëns organizes them into two expansive parts. The first begins with a brooding slow introduction, giving way to a vigorous Allegro in sonata form. The music is restless, with chromatic patterns and shifting tonalities, before dissolving into a serene Adagio in D-flat Major. Here, the organ enters quietly, and the strings sing a lyrical melody that grows to euphoric heights before subsiding.

The second part opens with a scherzo, its driving rhythms and brilliant orchestration interrupted by lighter woodwind passages and sparkling piano figurations. The music turns dark and tumultuous, but eventually yields to a recollection of the earlier Adagio. The organ returns, this time with a thunderous C Major chord, signaling the triumphant beginning of the finale. The closing pages are exuberant, with full organ, brass, and strings combining in a blaze of sound, culminating in a radiant apotheosis of C Major.