The Suite algérienneinC major, Op. 60 is a composition by Camille Saint-Saëns in four movements.
The composer had a lifetime love for Algeria. In 1873, he visited it for the first time. The theme of the third movement of the suite came to him during that visit. He composed a single-movement Rêverie orientale, which was performed in Paris on 7 June 1879 at a charity concert under composer's direction. His publisher Auguste Durand asked him to write more pieces like this one. So in the summer 1880, which he spent in Boulogne-sur-Mer, Saint-Saëns composed three other movements: on 12 July in a letter to Durand he wrote that he began working on them. By the end of August composition was finished (he reported it in a letter to Durand written on 30 August). The whole suite had its first performance in Paris on 19 December 1880 with Édouard Colonne as conductor. The audience loved it and the composition was published by Durand, Schoenewerk et Cie. the next year with a dedication to Albert Kopff, an ophthalmologist of Alsatian origin, who became a friend of Saint-Saëns during his stay in Algeria. He was also an excellent pianist and published arrangements of works by Saint-Saëns under pseudonym A. Benfeld.
The work is scored for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns (2natural, 2 valved), 2 trumpets (valved), 2 cornets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, snare drum, triangle, tambourine, cymbals, bass drum and strings.
The work is written in four movements. Each of the movements has a program.
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