“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: Tuba, guitar
Sheet music
Item no.: 1303185
for: Cello, guitar
Sheet music
Item no.: 1303179
for: Piccolo, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1307952
for: Horn (E-flat), piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1307943
for: Cello, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1307934
for: Piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 2661
for: Cello, organ
Score, part (pdf download)
Item no.: 1787
for: Organ
Item no.: 139455
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1203633
for: Mixed choir (SATB), piano
Score
Item no.: 1337886
for: Clarinet, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 280000
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 601767
for: Men's Choir A Cappella
Score
Item no.: 876935
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 881371
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 274940
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 241888
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 197933
for: Voice, piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 879303
Study score
Item no.: 283839
for: Cello, piano
Score
Item no.: 168962
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 864369
for: Choir
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 922204
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 876008
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 893539
for: Mixed Ensemble
Score
Item no.: 874060
for: Piano 4 hands
Score
Item no.: 921113
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 365605
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 882808
for: Choir a Cappella
Choir score
Item no.: 466269
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 885875
for: Vocal, Flute and Piano
Score
Item no.: 883709
for: Voice, piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 878969
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 430706
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 366081
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 347542
for: Organ and Piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 890170
for: Organ or Harmonium
Buch
Item no.: 888891
for: Violin
Music score
Item no.: 874482
for: Piano, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 428633
for: Violin, piano
Score, part
Item no.: 291410
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 894179
for: Quartet
Score
Item no.: 170461
for: Violin
Sheet music
Item no.: 880642
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 868033
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 889677
for: Trio
Score
Item no.: 872689
La Marche Royale Du Lion- Poules et Coqs- L'elephant- Les Kangourous- Le Cygne- Finale
for: 2 guitars
Ensemble score
Item no.: 1071880