“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.
C
for: Flute, piano
Instrumental Solo & Accompaniment
Item no.: 1645945
G
for: Electronic Keyboard
Keyboard
Item no.: 1642185
C
for: Bassoon, piano
Instrumental Solo & Piano Accompaniment
Item no.: 1642184
op. 37
for: Flute, piano
Music score
Item no.: 1582267
aus "Karneval der Tiere"
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 1566003
for: Chor TTBB, Orgel
Score
Item no.: 1586644
Score
Item no.: 1586706
for: Soli SMsA, [Chor (1-stimmig)], Orgel
Score
Item no.: 1586649
Score
Item no.: 1586705
G
for: Piano
Piano Solo
Item no.: 1553747
Bb
for: Piano
Piano Solo
Item no.: 1553887
nach der Nr. 6 aus „Six Bagatelles pour piano“, op. 3
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 6803
Bearbeitung für Streicher, Harfe und Orgel (arr. K. Rothaupt)
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 1340490
for: String orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1378461
for: Mixed choir (SSATB), piano
Score
Item no.: 1587043
for: String orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1379179
from: “Le Carnaval des animaux”
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 723358
from: Samson and Deliah
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 723207
op. 38
for: Violin, piano
Music score
Item no.: 746426
The Swan from: Le carnaval des animaux, No. 13
for: Cello, piano
Music score
Item no.: 722528
op. 43
for: Cello, piano
Music score
Item no.: 732134
from The Carnival of the Animals
for: Violin, piano
Music score
Item no.: 722305
from The Carnival of the Animals
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 732048
from The Carnival of the Animals
for: Cello, piano
Music score
Item no.: 759088
for: Flute, piano
Music score
Item no.: 759094
from The Carnival of the Animals
for: Flute, piano
Music score
Item no.: 759103
for: Cello, piano
Music score
Item no.: 722318
for: Violin, piano
Music score
Item no.: 722290
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 722243
aus "Karneval der Tiere"
for: Flute, piano
Music score
Item no.: 739543
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1380538
The Swan from: Le Carnaval des animaux, No. 13
for: Cello, piano
Music score
Item no.: 746411
op. 67
for: Horn, piano
Music score
Item no.: 726185
op. 43
for: Cello, piano
Music score
Item no.: 728705
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1382096
op. 81
for: Piano 4 hands
Music score
Item no.: 737757
op. 105
for: Piano 4 hands
Music score
Item no.: 753000
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1382729
from: The Carnival of the Animals
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 751001
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1383012
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1383349
for: Organ
Sheet music
Item no.: 1383139
for: Piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1382980
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1382989
for: Horn, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1383345
for: Organ
Sheet music
Item no.: 1383358
for: 2 pianos
Sheet music
Item no.: 1383357
for: Bassoon, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1383124