Camille Saint-Saëns - Airs de Ballet d'Ascanio for Flute and Piano, edited by Ervin Monroe. Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921) was a remarkably versatile French composer whose elegant craftsmanship, clarity of form, and refined orchestration made him one of the leading figures of French music in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Airs de Ballet d’Ascanio is drawn from his opera Ascanio, composed for the Paris Opéra in 1890 and inspired by the Renaissance sculptor Benvenuto Cellini and his circle. Arranged here for flute and piano, these graceful ballet excerpts showcase Saint-Saëns’s gift for melody, rhythmic elegance, and colorful, dance-like writing, making them particularly attractive additions to the flute repertoire.