Camille Saint-Saëns wrote the 22-minute long Carnival of the Animals while on vacation in 1886; it was intended for private performance by a chamber ensemble (two pianos and 11 other instruments), and was played only once for his friends.
At the time he wrote Carnival, Saint-Saëns was a well-established composer well known throughout his native France and Europe. He had written symphonies, concertoes, operas, songs, chamber works, solo pieces and sacred music. So naturally he considered the piece too frivolous for publication. What would people say when they discovered that the great composer had written a silly little ditty?
Fortunately Saint-Saëns did not completely disown the piece, and in his will he allowed it to be published after his death. Unluckily for him, though, he is now best remembered for this piece rather than his other serious works.
This 14-part work contains delightful musical portraits of various animals (and piano students!) and borrows music from several other pieces to entertaining effect. Though the piece was written for fun, the clever use of the various instruments offers interesting insight into the instruments themselves.
Listen to the animals parade by in Carnival of the Animals.
The text for this article was taken whole from one of my school projects - an interactive educational website about the Symphony Orchestra. Why not drop by for a visit?
