Composed in 1891 during a stay in Egypt, this concertante piece is marked by its mosaic-like structure and interplay of various themes, blending African musical elements with European compositional techniques.

Written during a period of personal grief following his mother's death, Saint-Saëns dedicated Africa to the pianist Marie-Aimée Roger-Miclos, to whom he had pledged a new composition.

The work is held in a single movement and calls for outstanding technical virtuosity, agility, and a certain lightness of touch from the soloist, also reflecting Saint-Saëns's own formidable pianistic skill.

[1] Saint-Saëns had made a commitment to compose a new piece for pianist Marie-Aimée Roger-Miclos, and in a letter dated 20 September 1889 confessed to her to being struck by grief following his mother's death and unable to write a composition of any importance.

The theme, which is based on the musical traditions of the Chaoui people, begins with the oboe repeatedly emphasizing E, and then evolves into syncopated rhythmic patterns that play on the offbeats, creating a sense of instability.

In the Meno allegretto section, a rhythmic motif (Theme C) presents a structure over which Saint-Saëns expresses himself freely with rapid octave descents and arpeggios.

[8] Africa is scored for solo piano and an orchestra consisting of 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 cornets, 3 trombones, timpani, triangle, cymbals, and strings.

The varying timbres, textures, and tempi also demonstrate the piece's virtuosity; in correspondence, Saint-Saëns has also highlighted the "lightness" and "suppleness" required to play Africa.

A reviewer for the journal L'Art musical praised the composition for its "exquisite finesse", its "captivating and stylish finish", and its "truly ingenious details in the orchestration".

In much of his correspondence during this period, Saint-Saëns frequently expressed his satisfaction with the piece and its performances,[16] proclaiming that Africa "fits me like a glove, I play it effortlessly, without worry".

[17] In 1901, a reviewer for the journal Le Ménestrel also praised Marie-Aimée Roger-Miclos, the dedicatee, for her performance of the work, highlighting "her delicate and light hands" in the finale, "pianissimos of an exquisite velvety-softness," and "elements kept in the shadows needed for preserving the quasi-dreamlike, even veiled character of certain Moorish songs.

Following a performance in Berlin in October 1906, which also included the fifth piano concerto (The Egyptian), Ernst Eduard Taubert wrote in Die Musik: "These African-Arabian motives, this geographical music, delivered especially in such large doses, really are of less interest to the public who attend these concerts."

Likewise, the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung reported that Saint-Saëns performed his works "in the most consummate manner imaginable under his masterful hands" but that did not make them "any more interesting.

"[19] Alfred Cortot wrote of Africa: "One might be tempted to see this piece as a less picturesque and less flavorful response to certain passages of the Egyptian Concerto, perhaps precisely because it leans toward a more active virtuosity.