“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, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 681234
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 283765
for: 2 pianos
2 music scores
Item no.: 283730
for: Organ, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 680948
for: Cello
Music score
Item no.: 1203617
for: String Orchestra with opt. 3rd Violin/Viola T.C.
Score, Parts
Item no.: 935989
with marked and unmarked string part
Henle Urtext Editions
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part (Urtext edition)
Item no.: 617088
for: Double bass
Music score
Item no.: 416354
for: Saxophone
Score, Parts
Item no.: 975114
for: 2 violins, viola, cello (string quartet)
Set of parts
Item no.: 283840
for: Viola, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 593760
z.T. mit Gesang
for: Horn, organ
Score, Parts
Item no.: 664807
for: Baritone saxophone, piano [organ]
Sheet music
Item no.: 1303200
for: Cello, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1316441
for: Brass band
Sheet music
Item no.: 1298016
for: Horn (F), piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1300257
for: Violin, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1308157
for violin and concert band
for: Violin, concert band
Score, Parts
Item no.: 680750
for: Clarinet, string orchestra
Sheet music
Item no.: 1716462
for: Flugelhorn or Trumpet, String Quintet or Orchestra & Piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1743864
for: Violin, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1242757
Arrangement for strings, harp and organ
for: 4 soloists (SATB), mixed choir (SATB), string orchestra, harp, organ
Score
Item no.: 771664
for: Brass band
Sheet music
Item no.: 1747715
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 395162
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1383012
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 1383349
for: String orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1379179
for: Piano, orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 283799
for: Piano, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 283751
for: Voice, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1254111
for: Bass clarinet
Sheet music
Item no.: 1243600
for: Piccolo, piano [organ]
Sheet music
Item no.: 1246566
for: Alto saxophone, guitar
Sheet music
Item no.: 1246543
for: Trumpet, guitar
Sheet music
Item no.: 1246537
for: Tuba, piano [organ]
Sheet music
Item no.: 1246526
for: Cello, guitar
Sheet music
Item no.: 1246519
for: Tuba (E-flat), piano [organ]
Sheet music
Item no.: 1246514
for: Flugelhorn, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1264682
for: Trombone, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1251508
for: Violin, piano
Sheet music
Item no.: 1251506
for: Solo for Trombone or Euphonium & Brass Band
Sheet music
Item no.: 1270300
for: Mixed choir, concert band
Sheet music
Item no.: 1261134
for: Concert band
Sheet music
Item no.: 1261102
for: Cello, orchestra
Piano reduction, solo part
Item no.: 404152
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 283733
for: 2 Baritones and 2 Tubas
Buch
Item no.: 916089
Violon Solo, Piano et Orchestre a Cordes
for: Violin, string orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1072424
for: String orchestra
Score, Parts
Item no.: 1595606
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