Download LE CARNAVAL DES ANIMAUX (THE CARNIVAL OF

LE CARNAVAL DES ANIMAUX (THE CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS) is a musical suite of
fourteen movements by the French Romantic composer Camille Saint-Saëns
(born 1835 – died 1921). It is a set of orchestral character pieces, each of which
is meant to describe a particular animal, usually by mimicking the sounds it
makes or characterizing the way it moves or carries itself. The piece is scored for
the following instruments:
• Two Solo Pianos
• Flute/piccolo
• Clarinet
• Violin
• Viola
• Cello
• Double bass
• Glass harmonica
• Xylophone
At the time that he wrote The Carnival of the Animals, Saint-Saëns was a
famous composer well-known throughout Europe. He had written successful
symphonies, concertos, operas, songs, chamber music, and solo pieces and
sacred music. The Carnival of the Animals was just a silly little piece that he
composed for fun, and he allowed it to be performed only twice during his
lifetime, in private performances for his friends. He did not want the piece to be
performed in public because he was afraid that it would hurt his reputation as a
serious composer.
The Carnival of the Animals was published after Saint-Saens's death, and it
has since become one of his most popular works. Along with Prokofiev's Peter
and the Wolf and Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, it is
one of the most popular classical pieces for young audiences, a favorite of
children and adults
There are fourteen movements in The Carnival of the Animals:
I- Introduction and Royal March of the Lion
This movement is very regal and grand, featuring a full, swaggering figure in the
strings and fast, running scales in the pianos that convincingly mimic lion roars.
The introduction begins with the pianos playing a bold tremolo, under which the
strings enter with a stately theme. The pianos play a pair of scales going in
opposite directions to conclude the first part of the movement. The pianos then
introduce a March theme that they carry through most of the rest of the
introduction. The strings provide the melody, with the pianos playing low runs
that sound like the roar of a lion. The movement ends with a fortissimo (very
loud) note from all the instruments used in this movement.
II- Hens and Roosters
This is a funny, nervous movement, with jittery string figures that suggest
scratching, clucking hens and staccato figures followed by trills in the pianos that
sound much like crowing roosters. The violin, viola and pianos play a pecking
theme reminiscent of chickens pecking at grain. The clarinet plays small solos
above the rest of the players at intervals.
III- Wild Asses
The great running speed of these animals is illustrated by the frantic, feverishly
fast up-and-down motion of both pianos playing scales in octaves.There is no
orchestral accompaniment here.
IV- Tortoises
Saint-Saens makes a funny joke about the slow-motion torpor of these creatures
by using a famous Can-Can melody, which is usually a very fast, energetic
dance, but is played painfully slowly here by the low strings (cello and bass),
surrounded by a throbbing triplet accompaniment in the pianos. Occasional use
of stumbling dissonances completes the picture of this painfully poky reptile.
V- The Elephant
This movement consists of a lumbering and clumsy waltz melody played by the
double bass and piano. This is another musical joke. The music is taken from two
very graceful and beautiful pieces: Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's
Dream and Berlioz's Dance of the Sylphs. Both themes were both originally
written for high, lighter-toned instruments, like the flute and violin, so the joke is
that Saint-Saëns gives this graceful tune to the lowest and heaviest-sounding
instrument in the orchestra, the double bass.
VI- Kangaroos
This movement is written just for the two pianos. The music is made up of
clipped, irregular phrases that suggest the hopping of startled kangaroos.
VII- Aquarium
This music suggests a tankful of peacefully swimming fish, evoked by slow, lazy
music played by the strings, pianos, and flute, with twinkling flips in the glass
harmonica. The effect is watery and calm.
VIII- Characters with Long Ears
This movement suddenly breaks the contemplative mood! The violins play high,
loud notes and low, buzzing ones, just like a donkey's braying "hee-haw". This is
the shortest of all the movements.
IX- The Cuckoo in the Depths of the Woods
A quiet, mysterious melody in the pianos is continually interrupted by the clarinet.
playing a single two-note phrase (C and an A flat), over and over, mimicking the
call of a cuckoo bird.
X- Aviary
Busy, fluttering melodies run through the pianos and flute over a rustling string
accompaniment. The similarity in sound to a flock of mixed birds is very
noticeable. The flute takes the part of the bird, with a trilling tune that spans much
of its range. The pianos provide occasional ping and trills of other birds in the
background. The violins take on a background role, providing a buzz in the
background that is reminiscent of the noise of a jungle.
XI- Pianists
This movement is a glimpse of what few audiences ever get to see: the pianists
practicing their scales. The two pianists plays a keyboard exercise passage over
and over, moving up a step each time, and missing some notes while they play!
XII- Fossils
This is a very funny movement. Saint-Saens takes several overly-familiar
melodies, including Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, an aria from Rossini's opera
The Barber of Seville, and his own Danse Macabre into a very strange
combination. Saint-Saens seems to have felt that these melodies were so
famous that they had become museum fossils, as tired and worn-out as dinosaur
bones. The xylophone sounds like bones clacking together to the beat.
XIII- The Swan
This movement is warm and expressive, evoking the gliding grace of a
contemplative swimming swan. This is by far the most famous music from The
Carnival of the Animals, often performed by cellists as a solo showcase. The
lush, romantic cello solo evokes the swan elegantly gliding over the water, and
the piano makes the sounds of rippling, watery waves.
XIV- Finale
The whole orchestra comes together in a merry ending, which brings back
snippets from many of the previous movements. Suggestions of the lion, fossils,
wild asses, hens and cocks, kangaroos, cuckoo, and pianists pass quickly in
succession. The donkeys get their “hee-haws” in just before the final chords.
© Lara Downes 2009