Saint⁠-⁠Saëns wrote five symphonies
between the years 1850 and 1886.
The cycle began with the
Mozart-influenced Symphony in A
but as a precocious composer of 17
he wrote his first numbered
symphony, a work much admired
by Berlioz and Gounod. He
progressed to his most popular piece
in the genre, the ground-breaking
Symphony No. 3 with its inclusion of organ
and piano. This critically admired cycle includes a sequence of atmospheric and dramatic symphonic poems, including Phaéton and the ever-popular Danse macabre.