“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: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1383541
for: Flute, Clarinet and Piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1383337
for: Organ
Sheet music
Item no.: 1383140
for: Viola, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1383035
In a simple arrangement for piano
for: Piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 1340991
G
for: Piano
Piano Solo
Item no.: 1047588
from "The Carnival of the Animals"
for: Piano 4 hands
Music score
Item no.: 746486
for: Soli SMsA, [Chor (1-stimmig)], Orgel
Score
Item no.: 1586649
Score
Item no.: 1586705
for: Trumpet, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1251294
for: Horn (F), piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1243595
for: Flute, guitar
Sheet music
Item no.: 1246563
for: Treble recorder, piano [organ]
Sheet music
Item no.: 1246552
for: Bass recorder, guitar
Sheet music
Item no.: 1246547
for: Organ
Sheet music
Item no.: 1383360
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1382729
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1384069
for: Chor TTBB, Orgel
Score
Item no.: 1586644
arrangiert für Kammerensemble von Michael Rot (2016)
for: Violin, viola, cello, piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 795473
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
Sheet music
Item no.: 1650329
pour solo de soprano ou ténor, 1865
for: Voice (high), organ
Sheet music
Item no.: 5346
for: 2 Soprane (Sopran/Alt) und Orgel
Music score
Item no.: 740400
op. 145
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Score
Item no.: 5245
Schlusschor des Oratorio de Noël
for: Gemischter Chor (SATB), Klavier, Orgel
Score
Item no.: 1337848
Oratorio de Noel
for: Soli SMsATB, Gemischter Chor (SATB), Violinen (2), Viola, Cello, Kontrabass, Orgel, Harfe
Score
Item no.: 1337241
Oratorio de Noel
for: Soli SMsATB, Gemischter Chor (SATB), Violinen (2), Viola, Cello, Kontrabass, Orgel, Harfe
Download (Audio)
Item no.: 1336998
Oratorio de Noel
for: Soli SMsATB, Gemischter Chor (SATB), Violinen (2), Viola, Cello, Kontrabass, Orgel, Harfe
Download (Audio)
Item no.: 1336999
Oratorio de Noel
for: Soli SMsATB, Gemischter Chor (SATB), Violinen (2), Viola, Cello, Kontrabass, Orgel, Harfe
Download (Audio)
Item no.: 1337001
Oratorio de Noel
for: Soli SMsATB, Gemischter Chor (SATB), Violinen (2), Viola, Cello, Kontrabass, Orgel, Harfe
Download (Audio)
Item no.: 1337000
aus "Karneval der Tiere"
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1566003