“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.
Klassik
for: Bass Voice a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 875542
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 891473
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 922550
Pour 3 voix (Soprano, Mezzo et Contralto) et Choeur A L'unisson Ad Libitum
for: 4 saxophones (SATBar)
Score
Item no.: 891635
Solo-Konzert
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 210843
Avec Accompagnement De Harpe (Ad Libitum)
for: Choir and Various Instruments
Score
Item no.: 863733
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 884664
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 634641
Caprice-Valse pour Piano
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 144451
Pour Piano
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 218552
transcription pour Violoncelle et Piano par l'auteur
for: Cello, orchestra
Piano reduction
Item no.: 300321
Klassik
for: Cello, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 298509
Klassik
for: Symphonic orchestra
Study score
Item no.: 369309
Extrait de "Le Carnaval des animaux"
for: Cello or Double Bass and Piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 283677
for: Violin, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 878192
Walzer
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 218555
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 867040
Klassik
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 275977
Poeme De Victor Hugo
for: Voice, Flute and Piano
Score
Item no.: 192185
for: Voice and various instruments
Score
Item no.: 863410
transcription par B. Bernards
for: Alto saxophone, piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 888273
Voyage En Algerie
for: Piano 4 hands
Score
Item no.: 922855
arrangee par l'Auteur
for: Piano 4 hands
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 922544
for: Flute, piano
Score
Item no.: 880353
Klassik
for: Voice (baritone), piano
Piano score, solo part
Item no.: 921437
Klassik
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 882110
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 864234
Hochzeit
for: Mixed Ensemble
Score
Item no.: 877507
Klassik
for: Choir a Cappella
Einzelstimme
Item no.: 883864
Marsch
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 879894
Walzer
for: Violin
Sheet music
Item no.: 884259
pour Chant et Piano
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 880816
Klassik
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 867680
Extrait De Javotte
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 886947
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 873422
for: Piano 4 hands
Ensemble score
Item no.: 865321
Klassik
for: Voice, piano
Music score
Item no.: 889347
Klassik
for: Men's Choir A Cappella
Score
Item no.: 878852
Oper/Operette
for: Voice, piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 893737
Oper/Operette
for: Libretto
Lyrics
Item no.: 862594
Walzer
for: Piano 4 hands
Score
Item no.: 879637
Klassik
for: Voice (soprano), piano
Piano reduction
Item no.: 866892
Klassik
for: Choir a Cappella
Score
Item no.: 873675
for: Piano 4 hands
Score
Item no.: 891542
Klassik
for: Choir
Score
Item no.: 881451
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 887608
Klassik
for: 4 saxophones (SATBar)
Choir score
Item no.: 921323
for: Piano
Music score
Item no.: 892624