Description
Camille Saint-Saëns wrote The Carnival of the Animals essentially for fun, whilst on holiday in Austria in 1886. The suite is subtitled a ‘Grand Zoological Fantasy’ and it consists of 14 movements in which lions, hens, wild asses, tortoises, an elephant, kangaroos, fish in an aquarium, donkeys (or, as he puts it ‘personages with long ears’), a cuckoo, birds in an aviary, pianists (in a zoo?), fossils and a swan are musically portrayed. Saint-Saëns was concerned to maintain his reputation as a serious composer, so, save for The Swan, he allowed only one public performance of the suite in his lifetime. It was published, posthumously, and is now one of his best-known works.
Carnival was originally scored for a chamber ensemble of 11 players including two pianos and a glass harmonica. Here, the Aquarium movement has been arranged for wind quintet and piano. With its glittering, swirling arpeggios this movement perfectly portrays a serene, beautiful underwater world. Aquarium has been widely used in films and video games either in its original form (such as Edward Scissorhands (1990)) or as inspiration (such as Alan Menken’s music for the opening of Disney’s animated film Beauty and the Beast (1991). Some believe it was also influential in John William’s Hedwig’s Theme for the Harry Potter movies (2001-11).
The full suite is available here.
