Klendii O. C. Saint-Saëns’s Pianoforte Style as Evocation of Performance Ideal of the 19th-Century European Culture

The thesis covers the investigation of pianoforte mentality style of one of the most outstanding representatives of the European music culture of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th century C. Saint-Saëns (1835–1921). His creative activity and pianoforte heritage represent the ideal of a composer-virtuoso. Being excellent at playing the instrument, he expanded the horizons of pianoforte expressive means by creating his own style – a sound-pattern world. The demand of the thesis topic is explained by under-investigation of C. Saint-Saëns’s artistic heritage in most scientific outlooks devoted to historical and typological processes in Western European music. Although it has been a hundred years since the artist’s death, today his great contribution into the development of the European culture has not been covered in scientific studies to the full expend.