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Against a Habanera Rhythm: Saint-Saëns’ Havanaise

Taking not Spain but Cuba as his inspiration, Saint-Saëns wrote his Havanaise inspired, it is said, by a crackling hotel-room fire. Hearing in that sound a Cuban habanera, Saint-Saëns wrote over the rhythm to give the violin a kind of extended song.

Saint-Saëns: Havanaise in E major, Op. 83 for violin and orchestra

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