“I like good company, but I like hard work still better.” Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Saint-Saëns was an inexhaustible French pianist, organist and composer, responsible for the infamous The Carnival of Animals. Browse our sheet music and scores, and have a carnival with Camille today!
Camille Saint-Saëns was born in Paris on October the 9th, 1835, and since his father died a few months later, he was raised by his mother and his great-aunt, who was a pianist. Camille’s musical talents were clear from an early age, he took his first piano lessons with his great aunt, and he fell in love with the organ at the very first note. With composition, he also started young, and was only 15 years old when he completed his first symphony (Symphony in A major), which is now very rarely performed.
After completing his studies in piano, organ and composition at the Paris Conservatoire, he first worked as an organist, but he gave up his position in 1877, to pursue his love of composition.
As he became increasingly famous, he took more trips within Europe, and to America, as well as to Africa, and it was on this final trip that he died on December 16, 1921 in Algiers, at the age of 86.
Only a few pieces from Camille Saint-Saëns’ great work have made it into the modern concert and stage repertoire. About half of his work is made up of virtually forgotten vocal pieces, such as cantatas, songs with piano, and choral works. However, The Christmas Oratorio and his opera Samson and Dalilah are extremely popular today.
Among his instrumental works, the Piano Concertos by Saint-Saëns and the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto are regularly featured in the modern concert repertoire. The Saint-Saëns Piano Works and the Organ Works by Saint-Saëns, which cover all difficulty levels, are often used by musicians as part of their professional training and development. A work of note is the Symphony No.3 by Saint-Saëns. In this ’organ symphony’, the composer uses the ’queen of instruments’ to create a special timbre within the orchestra.
One of the most famous works by Camille Saint-Saëns is the The Carnival of Animals, with which he enjoyed great success, just a few years before his death.
At first, Saint-Saëns’ musical ideas were regarded as ’revolutionary’, and were initially very successful abroad, before gaining popularity at home. It was not, however, until the late 1880s, that he was considered an established force within the classic music world. At the turn of the century, a new musical avant-garde arrived, with Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky, and Saint-Saëns was increasingly over-looked, and his fame dwindled, as his music was now widely considered ’old-fashioned’.
Throughout his life, Saint-Saëns was an advocate for French traditional and national music, and along with César Franck, he was co-founder of the ’Société Nationale de Musique’, which offered young French composers a pathway into the music world. He also spend his life fighting against the German influence on French music, especially that of Richard Wagner and Arnold Schönberg.
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 892624
From "Le Carnival des Animaux"
for: Cello, concert band
Score
Item no.: 1555786
for: Tenor saxophone (B-flat), piano
Item no.: 327752
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 881432
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1096109
Klassik
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 921821
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 873422
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 865321
Klassik
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 881210
for: Trombone Solo
Book
Item no.: 1144832
Oper/Operette
for: Libretto
Lyrics
Item no.: 862594
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 341746
for: Mixed choir a cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 289127
includes, besides the original version, a version with a smaller orchestra
– graduated prices on request –
for: 4 soloists (SATB), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra, organ
Choir score
Item no.: 771650
The Carnival of the Animals
for: Chamber ensemble
Viola (orchestral part)
Item no.: 773498
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Symphonic orchestra
Cello (orchestral part)
Item no.: 673900
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 949532
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score
Item no.: 963316
Urtext
for: 4 soloists (SATB), mixed choir (SATB), orchestra, organ
Violin 1 (orchestral part)
Item no.: 678995
Repertoire Explorer
for: Violin, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 1344517
Opera Explorer
Study score
Item no.: 1344276
for voice (violin, oboe, clarinet), vibraphone (doubling crotales), marimba (5 octaves) and harp
for: Singstimme (Violine, Oboe, Klarinette), Vibraphon (auch Crotales), Marimba (5 Oktaven) und Harfe
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1209600
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 1069979
Southern Music
for: Percussion ensemble
Score
Item no.: 927415
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Score
Item no.: 1201573
Music score
Item no.: 1202319
Klassik
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 874605
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 922917
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 887105
for: Symphonic orchestra
Set of parts
Item no.: 1562989
Symphonic poem
after a poem by Henri Cazalis
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Violin, orchestra
Double bass (orchestral part)
Item no.: 692992
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 866117
Sudien und Übungen
for: Piano 4 hands
Score
Item no.: 867080
Klassik
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 884929
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 644761
tenor sax solo
for: Tenor Saxophone and Concert Band/Harmonie
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1090179
Klassik
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 882421
for: Opera
Book
Item no.: 1106170
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 862298
Chant et piano
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 878014
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 866630
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1096571
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 870986
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 889463
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 892044
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 922542
Klassik
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 891622
Klassik
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 872578
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