The
Prélude in F major survives only in a manuscript source at the Bibliothèque nationale and was printed for the first time in Otto Depenheuer’s 1991 edition. It may be used in all manner of liturgical situations and is surely a typical, if youthful, example of Saint-Saëns’ small-scale improvisations, though Depenheuer concludes that from a break in the manuscript it was originally intended to be part of a larger work.
from notes by Andrew-John Smith © 2011
