When Camille Saint-Saëns wrote his fifth piano concerto in 1896, he was recovering from a depression in his favourite vacation retreat in the temple complex of Luxor, Egypt. Saint-Saëns himself said the concerto describes a sea voyage. This record also contains a fantasy dedicated to the colours of Africa, written during one of those vacations.
In 1889, when Camille was 53, his mother died. He felt the loss acutely and contemplated committing suicide. In the end he left Paris for Algiers and stayed there for a year reading and taking walkabouts. After that he went several times to visit Egypt.