Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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ST. PATRICK'S DAY SAINT-SAENS 207
In 1860 alterations and additions were made
to the restaurant attached to the concert rooms,
at a further outlay of £5000. The Company
was eventually enabled to pay these charges,
through the uncovenanted liberality of some
of the directors, in accepting personal responsibilily
to mortagees and bankers, while they
diminished the debt annually through the
receipts of the Hall. Many concerts were given
for the express purpose of engaging the Hall on
off-nights, especially the Monday Popular Concerts,
which became a national institution,
but were originally started by Chappell & Co.
to bring together a new public to fill the Hall
on Monday nights. In 1874 three more houses
in Piccadilly were purchased to add to the
restaurant. The rebuilding of these entailed
a fiirther expenditure of £45,000, so that
the total cost exceeded £120,000. w. c. [In
much later days important alterations were
made in the approaches to the hall, a £ne
marble staircase leading direct from the Piccadilly
entrance. In spite of these, there was an
element of danger from the presence of kitchens
and the Christy Minstrels' hall below, and in
spite of the beautiful acoustics of the great hall
and its wonderful artistic associations, it was
not wholly a misfortune when it was determined
to pull it down and use the site for a
hotel. The last concert took place on Feb. 1 1,
1905.]
ST. PATRICK'S DAY. This rousing Irish
melody has been regarded for over a century
as the unofficial anthem of Ireland. It can be
definitely traced back to the first decade of the
18th century, and was very popular, so much
so that we find it as one of the two tunes played
by the Irish war-pipers at the famous battle of
Fontenoy, on May 11, 1745. Between the
years 1746 and 1 766 it was in vogue in England,
Country
and was printed by Rutherford in his '
Dances,' in 1749. In 1759 Oswald published
a fairly good setting of it in his Caledonian
Pocket Compmiion (Bk. xi.), and the Irish
dramatist, Isaac Bickerstaffe, set one of his
songs in 'Love in a Village' to it, in 1762.
Numerous Anglo-Irish songs were adapted to
the tune, and at length, in 1810, Moore wrote
his lyric 'Tho' dark are our sorrows,' which
duly appeared in the fourth number of the
'
Irish Melodies '(1811). Oswald's setting is as
follows :
St. Patricias Day.
Oswald's Setting, 1769.
W. H. G. F.
SAINT-SAENS, Charles Camille, bom
Oct. 9,1835, in theRueduJardinet(now No. 3),
Paris. Having lost his father, he was brought
up by his mother and a great-aunt, who taught
him the elements of music, and to this day the
composer keeps the little old-fashioned instrument
on which this dearly-loved relative gave
him his first lessons. At seven he began to
study the piano with Stamaty, and afterwards
had lessons in harmony from Maleden. Gifted
with an excellent ear and a prodigious memory,
he showed from childhood a marvellous aptitude
for music, and an unusual thirst for knowledge.
He played at a concert of his own in 1846, and
in 1847 he entered Benoist's class at the Conservatoire,
and was with Halevy for composition;
he obtained the second organ-prize in 1849, and
the first in 1851. He left in the following year,
but competed for the Prix de Rome, which was,
however, won by Leonce Cohen, his senior by
six years. He was not more fortunate at a
second trial in 1864, although by that time he
had made a name in more than one branch of
composition. These academic failures are therefore
of no real importance, and we merely
mention them because it is remarkable that
the most learaed of French contemporary
musicians should have gained every possible
distinction except the Grand Prix de Rome.
Saint-Saens was only sixteen when he composed
his first symphony, which was performed
with success by the Sooitt^ de Sainte C&ile.
In 1853 he became organist of the church of
St. Merri, and shortly after accepted the post
of pianoforte professor at Niedermeyer's Ecole
religieuse. Though overwhelmed with work
he found time for composing symphonies,
chamber-music, and vocal and instrumental
pieces—and for playing at concerts, where he
became known as an interpreter of classical
music. In 1858 he became organist of the
Madeleine, and distinguished himself as much
by his talent for improvisation jis by his execution.
He resigned this coveted post in 1877,
when he was much gratified by the appointment
of Theodore Dubois, a solid musician,
worthy in every respect to be his successor.
The stage being the sole road to fame and fortune
in Paris, all French musicians naturally aim
at dramatic composition. Saint-Saens was no
exception to this rule. He was in the first rank
of pianists and organists, and his cantata Les
'
Noces de From^th^e' had been awarded the