“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.: 874943
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 885224
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 884719
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 879455
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 883393
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 882761
for: Viola or 2 Viole and Piano
Score
Item no.: 882739
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 882557
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 872307
for: Voice, piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 872058
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 862259
for: Violin, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 188470
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 180007
for: Viola [cello], guitar
Score, Parts
Item no.: 197995
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 133602
for: Saxophone
Score, Parts
Item no.: 975114
for: SATB, Organ, opt. Cello/Bass Instrument
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1094065
for: Soprano saxophone, organ
Organ score, solo part
Item no.: 1628889
for: Piano 4 hands
Music score
Item no.: 1341019
Curnow Music Concert Band
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 957157
Klavier solo mit überlegtem Text
for: BUEHNENWERKE + SZENISCHE WERKE OPER
Item no.: 1343900
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: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 1203092
for: Trumpet
Instrumental Solo
Item no.: 1050910
Studienpartitur
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 561265
The Swan / Le cygne (komplett) (complete)
for: KLAR (A-SAX/BAR-SAX) KLAV
Item no.: 579230
for: Flute, piano
Instrumental Solo & Piano Accompaniment
Item no.: 1052950
from The Carnival of the Animals
for: Brass band
Sheet music
Item no.: 1298016
for: Cello, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1316441
Camille Saint-Saëns. Œuvres instrumentales complètes I/4
for: Symphonic orchestra
Werkausgabe, Partitur, Sammelband, Urtextausgabe
Item no.: 868789
for: Bass clarinet
Sheet music
Item no.: 1243600
for: Violin, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1242757
Camille Saint-Saëns. Œuvres instrumentales complètes II/2
for: Piano, orchestra
Werkausgabe, Urtextausgabe, Sammelband, Partitur
Item no.: 1534628
for: 2 Klaviere 12MS
Item no.: 176564
for: Violin, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1308157
Bärenreiter Urtext
for: Soloist (soprano), mixed choir (SATB), 4 saxophones (SATBar), string orchestra, organ
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 1582663
for: Baritone saxophone, piano [organ]
Sheet music
Item no.: 1303200
for: Trombone, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1251508
for: Violin, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1251506
for: Voice, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1254111
for: Horn (F), piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1300257
for: Bassoon, piano
Buch
Item no.: 860230
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 340742