“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: Flute Quintet
Book
Item no.: 994060
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 604836
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 1690782
for: Flexible Instrumentation
Score, Parts
Item no.: 289436
for: Horn (F), concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1680109
Edition Schott
for: Bassoon, piano
Music score
Item no.: 750570
for: 2 Soprane (Sopran/Alt) und Orgel
Music score
Item no.: 750439
Eulenburg Miniature Scores
for: Violin, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 750765
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 1340490
for: Bassoon, piano
Score
Item no.: 864217
for: Trumpet, 2 Violins, Viola, Cello, Double Bass and Piano
Study score
Item no.: 283758
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 177119
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 871843
for: Voice, piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 336148
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 291520
for: Piano 4 hands
Score
Item no.: 474822
for: SATB a Cappella, Opt. Keyboard
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1094497
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 866928
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 921881
for: Voice (soprano), piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 890778
for: Male choir (TTBB), piano
Choir score
Item no.: 910854
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 210847
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 865333
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 891289
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Score
Item no.: 890463
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 886498
for: Mixed Ensemble
Score
Item no.: 880783
for: Voice and various instruments
Score
Item no.: 877917
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 857485
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 921473
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 921601
for: Piano 4 hands
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 885298
for: Cello, Violin and Piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 873370
for: Chamber ensemble
Study score
Item no.: 283703
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 210848
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 892262
from "Carnival of the Animals"
for: Piano 4 hands
Music score
Item no.: 731719
for: Organ
Music score
Item no.: 430575
from: Le Carnaval des animaux
for: Violin, piano
Music score
Item no.: 1341269
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 395175
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 881334
for: Flute
Music score
Item no.: 877195
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 872500
for: Cello, orchestra
Set of parts
Item no.: 781096
for: Piano
Music score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 1615920
for: Oboe, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 773058
for: Viola, piano
Piano score, solo part, audio file
Item no.: 2691