Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921) was a native of Paris and a child prodigy who continued performing as a pianist well into his eighties. Ravel and Schoenberg both described Saint-Saëns as a genius. In turn, he had qualified respect for Wagner but declared Stravinsky as insane. He also had high regard for the music of the great French composers of the past such as Lully and Charpentier and this lively Rigaudon (arranged for string orchestra by Andrew Moore) could be seen as a 19th century re-working of a baroque piece. He died whilst wintering in Algiers.