Carnival of the Animals
Carnivals of the Animals – Assesment 2
1. The reason why the work was written:
Camille Saint-Saens wrote the ‘Carnival of the Animals’ while he was on holiday as a light hearted musical joke. It was originally planned for the students of Sain-Saens at the music school where he taught piano, Ecole Niedermeyer but he had little time to compose. The work was subtitled “Grand Zoological Fantasy” and it became Saint-Saens intent to perform it as a surprise at the annual Mardi Gras concert of cellist Charles Lebouc in Paris in February 1886.
2. Saint Saens’ opinion of the work:
The first performance of ‘Carnival of the animals’ was on March the 9th, 1886, peformed by pianists, Saint-Saens and Diemer. Composer and pianist. The work was requested by Franz Liszt to be played again. After the second performance, Saint-Saens refused to allow any more public performances of ‘Carnival of the Animals’ as he highly feared that it would ruin his reputation as a serious composer. His work then remained unpublished except ‘The swan’, publicized in 1887. His will read: “I expressively forbid the publication of any unpublished work, with the expectation of ‘The carnival of the animals’, which may be issued by my usual publishers, the gentlemen Durand and Cie”. After his death in 1921 the full score was published in 1922.
Saint Saens composed the work as a musical joke, he thought that if it was published it would ruin his reputation as a serious composer so he did not have it published until after his death (apart from the publication of ‘The Swan’).
3. Romantic Influences that can be identified in the Carnival of the Animals:
Saint-Saens used several different concepts to create a romantic aura about the music. ‘Carnival of the animals’ has a distinct song-like melodic line, this has been achieved by combining the fluctuating dynamics and the chromatic chords. Also, Saint-Saens designed his work using robato so the player must feel the music and storyline
1. The reason why the work was written:
Camille Saint-Saens wrote the ‘Carnival of the Animals’ while he was on holiday as a light hearted musical joke. It was originally planned for the students of Sain-Saens at the music school where he taught piano, Ecole Niedermeyer but he had little time to compose. The work was subtitled “Grand Zoological Fantasy” and it became Saint-Saens intent to perform it as a surprise at the annual Mardi Gras concert of cellist Charles Lebouc in Paris in February 1886.
2. Saint Saens’ opinion of the work:
The first performance of ‘Carnival of the animals’ was on March the 9th, 1886, peformed by pianists, Saint-Saens and Diemer. Composer and pianist. The work was requested by Franz Liszt to be played again. After the second performance, Saint-Saens refused to allow any more public performances of ‘Carnival of the Animals’ as he highly feared that it would ruin his reputation as a serious composer. His work then remained unpublished except ‘The swan’, publicized in 1887. His will read: “I expressively forbid the publication of any unpublished work, with the expectation of ‘The carnival of the animals’, which may be issued by my usual publishers, the gentlemen Durand and Cie”. After his death in 1921 the full score was published in 1922.
Saint Saens composed the work as a musical joke, he thought that if it was published it would ruin his reputation as a serious composer so he did not have it published until after his death (apart from the publication of ‘The Swan’).
3. Romantic Influences that can be identified in the Carnival of the Animals:
Saint-Saens used several different concepts to create a romantic aura about the music. ‘Carnival of the animals’ has a distinct song-like melodic line, this has been achieved by combining the fluctuating dynamics and the chromatic chords. Also, Saint-Saens designed his work using robato so the player must feel the music and storyline