“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: Bassoon, piano [organ]
Sheet music
Item no.: 1303215
for: Descant (soprano) recorder, guitar
Sheet music
Item no.: 1303212
for: Horn (E-flat), guitar
Sheet music
Item no.: 1303193
for: Viola, piano [organ]
Sheet music
Item no.: 1303182
for: Viola, guitar
Sheet music
Item no.: 1303181
for: Tuba (B flat), guitar
Sheet music
Item no.: 1303171
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 606131
From The Carnival Of The Animals
for: Flute Quartet and Piano
Book
Item no.: 994208
Klassik
for: Flute ensemble
Score, Parts
Item no.: 995091
Poème symphonique
Repertoire Explorer
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 1345104
for: Solo for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Trumpet, Horn, Trombone, Euphonium, Violin, Viola or Violoncello & Orchestra
Sheet music
Item no.: 1251613
for: Tuba (E-flat), piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1251287
for: Violin, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1251285
for: Flute, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1243603
for: Trombone, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1300255
for: Flute, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1307953
for: Tuba (E-flat), piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1307938
for: Viola, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1307935
for: Horn (E-flat), piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1316444
Clarinet Solo
for: Clarinet, string orchestra
Sheet music
Item no.: 1313048
for: Clarinet, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1313047
for: Baritone saxophone, guitar
Sheet music
Item no.: 1246539
for: Horn (E-flat), piano [organ]
Sheet music
Item no.: 1246534
for: Bassoon, guitar
Sheet music
Item no.: 1246555
for: Tenor saxophone, piano [organ]
Sheet music
Item no.: 1246542
for: Tenor saxophone, guitar
Sheet music
Item no.: 1246541
for: Piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1382980
für Horn und Orchester
Stimmenset (Streicher 6-4-3-3)
for: Horn, orchestra
Set of parts
Item no.: 278293
op. 78
for: Orchestra
Taschenpartitur
Item no.: 627444
for: 5 brass winds
Score, Parts
Item no.: 963248
for: Flute, piano
Book
Item no.: 969992
for: Symphonic orchestra
Book
Item no.: 170019
for: Horn, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 688449
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 849044
for: Cello, orchestra
Set of parts
Item no.: 781096
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 604836
for: 2 Horns and Piano
Book
Item no.: 404196
Muzika Ensemble Music
for: Flexible Instrumentation
Score, Parts
Item no.: 289436
Horn und Orchester (1891)
for: Horn, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 641532
for: Cello, orchestra
Stimmensatz
Item no.: 478050
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 1690382
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 1340490
from: Le Carnaval des animaux
for: Violin, piano
Music score
Item no.: 1341269
from: Le Carnaval des animaux
for: Double bass, piano
Music score
Item no.: 1209565
for: 5 brass winds
Score, Parts
Item no.: 996484
for: Flute, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 144718
for: Concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 999623
for: 4 trumpets, horn, 4 trombones, tuba; percussion ad lib.
Score (C), Parts
Item no.: 967036