“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: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 942953
for: Symphonic orchestra
Score
Item no.: 943548
for: 5 brass winds
Score, Parts
Item no.: 627681
for: Mixed choir (SATB), organ
Score
Item no.: 1337883
Arrangement for strings, harp and organ
for: 4 soloists (SATB), mixed choir (SATB), string orchestra, harp, organ
Score
Item no.: 771664
op. 68, No. 1
for: Mixed choir (SATB) a cappella
Score
Item no.: 5763
8 players
for: Percussion ensemble
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1535370
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 807643
for: Chamber ensemble
Score (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 1689631
for: F Horn and Piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 336471
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 327238
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 283840
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 283765
for: Piano, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 283751
with marked and unmarked string part
Henle Urtext Editions
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 617088
for: Cello, orchestra
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 404152
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 283733
for: 2 pianos
2 music scores
Item no.: 283730
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 1203617
for: Women's choir (SA), organ
Score
Item no.: 1340267
for: SATB, Organ, opt. Cello/Bass Instrument
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 1094065
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 395162
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 316537
for: Concert band
Score
Item no.: 956994
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 892784
for: String Ensemble and Piano
Score, Parts
Item no.: 892604
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 892081
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 886527
for: Vocal and String Quintet
Score
Item no.: 885186
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 877933
for: Voice (soprano), piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 883475
for: Male choir
Choir score
Item no.: 883165
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 882732
for: Voice (high), orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 894082
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 893499
for: Piano 4 hands
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 875870
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 873715
for: Piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 872300
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 871360
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 871102
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 868739
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 868337
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 868150
for: Piano 4 hands
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 866426
for: Cello or 2 Celli and Piano
Score
Item no.: 488364
for: Voice, piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 458311
for: Soloists, mixed choir, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 425874
for: Piano, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 376026