Le Carnaval des animaux (The Carnival of the Animals), a masterpiece by Camille Saint-Saëns

The Carnival of the Animals is a suite for instrumental ensemble written by Camille Saint-Saëns in 1886. Premiered in the same year during the Paris Carnival, the work was played twice more before its public performance was forbidden by its composer. Perhaps Saint-Saëns was worried about the criticism he had received: the point of The Carnival of the Animals was to entertain people through music alone, and this humorous element seems to stand out from his other compositions. The 14 pieces that make up the suite are each dedicated to an animal, like a great musical zoo! The score is also tinged with irony: movement No. 11, for example, spotlights representatives of a curious species…The Pianists! This playful interlude in the career of the musician (who, in the same year, devoted himself to the creation of his Symphony No. 3 with organ) never ceases to amuse audiences world-wide, offering joyful melodies to both the young and old!

Browse recordings of Le Carnaval des animaux (The Carnival of the Animals)

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**The greatest artists playing Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals on your #1 classical music streaming channel**

During the Middle Ages, a literary genre developed and became hugey successful, thanks to its ability to provide vivid descriptions and rouse wonder: the bestiary. Manuscript pages often depicted magnificent representations of animals, creating a universe where a dragon can take its place beside a horse, and where a hippopotamus is no less fantastic than a unicorn! In the same fantastical spirit and eliciting the same taste for wonder centuries later, Camille Saint-Saëns composed The Carnival of the Animals. But here, the magic flows from musical instruments that bring the voice of the animas to life. Certainly, the composer’s work is inscribed in a tradition of musical pastiche (embodied by Rameau, Offenbach, Berlioz, Mendelssohn, Rossini), but Saint-Saëns creates something we could claim to be unique, and tinged with irony. Just as Noah enters his Ark, embark on medici.tv to listen to Camille Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals!