Phaéton was the son of Apollo; as a teenager he wanted to borrow the old man's chariot (which was the sun). Apollo allowed him to take the reins for one day. After a brief introduction (which we might imagine represents Phaéton yearning to drive) a galloping motive is introduced for the sun's day-horses. A warning figure sounds, but the galloping motive shows how little the boy heeds the advice of his parent. The rhythm is skittish—hinting at the difficulty in controlling the powerful sun-steeds. Soon a powerful melody on four horns shows that Phaéton is exulting over the thrill of controlling the horses and racing across the sky. But the mood reverses—in the myth he could not control the horses, who began to fly so low that the sun's heat scorched and parched the land. A stern chord with percussion represents Zeus, who hurls a thunderbolt at the sun, which causes the horses to return to their proper track but also makes Phaéton tumble in a fatal fall. At the end, Phaéton's exultant theme from the center of the piece reappears as a lament. As is the case with all of the tone poems Saint-Saëns wrote in the 1870s, Phaéton is concise, dramatic, skillfully drawn, and very entertaining pictorial music. It deserves to be heard in concert much more often.

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