in September 1918, a few years before his death in 1921. Reception and performance history Premiere The premiere, conducted by Saint-Saëns himself, took place at the Philharmonic Society's concert of 19 May 1886, at St James's Hall, London. In the opening half of the concert, Saint-Saëns was the soloist in Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto, with Arthur Sullivan conducting. In the second half, in keeping with the Society's tradition of inviting composers to perform their own works, Saint-Saëns himself conducted the performance of his new symphony. For his efforts, Saint-Saëns received an honorarium of £30. Critical response to the London premiere was muted. In a brief notice in the London Standard (pictured), the reviewer indicated that he would need to hear the piece again to form an opinion. The next performance of the symphony was its premiere in Germany, which took place in August 1886 in Aachen, at a concert organized by Fritz Wenigmann that featured an all Saint-Saëns programme, including the Rhapsodie d'Auvergne (in which Saint-Saëns was the soloist). The symphony took up the second half of the concert and was warmly received. The French premiere, at a 9 January 1887 concert of the Société des Concerts, produced a much more enthusiastic response. Public response "was unprecedented for a new work," and the second performance a week later was similarly warmly received. Ambroise Thomas lobbied the committee of the Société for a third hearing of the work, arguing that the symphony was "powerful and exceptionally noteworthy, and given the invasion of German music, it would be well to offer another performance of this work that so honours the French school." A third programming of the work was indeed arranged and held on 13 March 1887. Subsequent performances The United States premiere was given on 19 February 1887, conducted by Theodore Thomas, at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City. A notable performance of the symphony took place on June 2, 1913, where it was the featured work at a Jubilee Festival Concert held at Queen's Hall in Saint-Saëns' honour. The composer was in attendance (he performed a concerto by Mozart, the only work on the program not by him), where Alexander Mackenzie delivered an encomium at the concert declaring he had "led the advance of French music in every branch, and you are justly acknowledged today to be its most exalted and most gifted representative." In May 1915, Saint-Saëns traveled