“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.
Repertoire Explorer
for: Piano, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 1344385
for: Cello, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 1653443
Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix
for: Bläser-Ensemble und Klavier
Score, Parts
Item no.: 863291
for: Fanfare
Score
Item no.: 1181995
for: 4 saxophones (SATBar)
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1178862
for: String orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1385328
for: Fanfare
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1188986
Illustrated book
Item no.: 1021666
for: Violin, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 188470
for: Clarinet, guitar
Sheet music
Item no.: 1246559
op. 37
for: Flute, piano
Music score
Item no.: 1582267
for: Organ
Item no.: 183914
(Urtext)
for: Symphonic orchestra
Harmony parts (complete winds)
Item no.: 343553
réduction par Georges Bizet
for: Violin, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 582148
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 873715
for: Saxophone
Score, Parts
Item no.: 975114
for: SATB, Organ, opt. Cello/Bass Instrument
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1094065
Marsch
for: Piano 4 hands
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 866426
for: Soprano saxophone, organ
Organ score, solo part
Item no.: 1628889
for: Piano 4 hands
Music score
Item no.: 1341019
Orchesterfassung
for: Cello, orchestra
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 750801
réduction par Francis Waël-Munk
for: Piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 872300
Curnow Music Concert Band
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 957157
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 868739
Hochzeit
for: String Ensemble and Piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 892604
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 886527
for: Vocal and String Quintet
Score
Item no.: 885186
pour Chant et Piano
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 882732
Klassik
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 868150
Extrait no1 de l'opera "Henry VIII" (reduction pour piano par Leon Delahaye)
for: Voice (high), orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 894082
Klavier solo mit überlegtem Text
for: BUEHNENWERKE + SZENISCHE WERKE OPER
Item no.: 1343900
Air d'Iole (Acte II)
for: Voice (soprano), piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 883475
op. 68, No. 1
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Score
Item no.: 5763
for: Klarinettenensemble
Score, Parts
Item no.: 994139
for violin and concert band
for: Violin, concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 680750
for: Piano, orchestra
Set of parts
Item no.: 817689
für Orgel und Orchester
Studienpartitur
for: Organ, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 147142
Getting it together - Partworks
for: Flexible ensemble
Score, Set of parts
Item no.: 145209
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 373841
Poème symphonique d'apres une poesie de Henri Cazalis pour piano
Transcription par H. Cramer
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 492279
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1203092
Klassik
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 877933
Motette
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 892784
Transcription Pour Piano A Quatre Mains
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 893499
Hymnen und Choräle
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 871102
for: Trumpet
Instrumental Solo
Item no.: 1050910
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 892081
Klassik
for: Piano 4 hands
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 875870
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