This was Saint-Saëns' first published organ composition, a piece he introduced to inaugurate the newly rebuilt organ of the Church of Saint-Merry, Paris, where he had recently been appointed organist. Though he was a mere 22 when he composed the E flat Fantasie in 1857, it has remained his most popular organ work. Its superior quality and wide currency are hardly surprising though, since Saint-Saëns was a seasoned master by that time, having composed music since the age of three!

Lasting seven minutes or so, the Fantasie is cast in two parts, with the first marked Con moto. It is both dreamy and stately, the writing masterly in its deft way of alternating chords on two manuals. Though the tempo indication is lively and the music fairly animated, the mood is relaxed and the sonorities delicate, with much of the writing in the upper ranges of the manuals. When the second part begins (Allegro di molto e con fuoco), the mood changes abruptly: the organ suddenly adopts the "fiery" character suggested by the marking, but also conveys a grandly epic manner. The music in the entire latter half is a mixture of the triumphant and festive, and features a colorfully virtuosic ending.

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