DRIFTING AND DREAMING

     

     Today is Charles Camille Saint-Saens birthday. Born on Oct. 9, 1835, he was a child prodigy composing his first piece of music at the age of three. He was a songwriter, pianist, journalist, playwright and poet. Symphonies, concerts, songs, choral music, piano and chamber music all poured from this Renaissance man. He wrote the opera Samson and Delilah, Danse Macabre and Carnival of the Animals.
     A French composer, he received more acclaim in the United States and England. I remember hearing The Swan in music appreciation class in elementary school. I closed my eyes and my mind wandered picturing water, swans, weeping willows--branches of leaves lightly touching the bank. Clouds slowly wandering the blue sky. Classical music makes me dream and paint mental pictures that can be used when I play with words. Happy birthday, Charles Camille Saint-Saens.

     Do you paint mental pictures when you hear music?

     Bests,

     Elise