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Le Carnaval des Animaux (The Carnival of the Animals) is a musical suite of fourteen movements by the French Romantic composer Camille Saint-Saëns.

Contents 1 History 2 Movements 3 Musical References 4 Cultural References 5 External links

Le Carnaval was composed in February 1886 while Saint-Saëns was vacationing in a small Austrian village. It was originally scored for a chamber group of flute, clarinet, two pianos, glass harmonica, xylophone, two violins, viola, cello and double bass, but is usually performed today with a full orchestra of strings, and with a glockenspiel substituting for the rare glass harmonica.

Saint-Saëns, apparently concerned that the piece was too frivolous and likely to harm his reputation as a serious composer, suppressed performances of it and only allowed one movement, Le Cygne, to be published in his lifetime. Only small private performances were given for close friends like Franz Liszt.

Saint-Saëns did, however, include a provision which allowed the suite to be published after his death, and it has since become one of his most popular works. It is a favorite of music teachers and young children, along with Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf and Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra.

A typical performance lasts about 20-25 minutes. There are fourteen movements:

I- Introduction et marche royale du Lion (Introduction and Royal March of the Lion)

Strings and two pianos: 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 occasionally taking low runs of octaves or high ostinatos. The movement ends with a fortissimo note from all the instruments used in this movement.

II- Poules et Coqs (Hens and Roosters)

Strings without double-bass, two pianos, with clarinet: This movement is centered around a pecking theme played in the pianos and strings, which is quite reminiscent of chickens pecking at grain. The clarinet plays small solos above the rest of the players at intervals.

III- Hémiones (animaux véloces) (Wild Asses; quick animals)

Two pianos: The animals depicted here are quite obviously running, an image induced by the constant, feverishly fast up-and-down motion of both pianos playing scales in octaves.

IV- Tortues (Tortoises)

Strings and piano: A slightly satirical movement which opens with a piano playing a pulsing triplet figure in the higher register. The strings play a maddeningly slow rendition of the famous 'Can-Can' from Offenbach's operetta Orpheus in the Underworld, as mentioned below.

V- L'Éléphant (The Elephant)

Double-bass and piano: This section is marked Allegro Pomposo, the perfect caricature for an elephant. The piano plays a waltz-like triplet figure while the bass hums the melody beneath it. Like "Tortues," this is also a musical joke - the thematic material is taken from Felix Mendelssohn's Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hector Berlioz's Dance of the Silphs. The two themes were both originally written for high, lighter-toned instruments (flute and various other woodwinds, and violin, accordingly); the joke is that Saint-Saëns moves this to the lowest and heaviest-sounding instrument in the orchestra, the double bass.

VI- Kangourous (Kangaroos)

Two pianos: The main figure here is a pattern of 'hopping' fifths preceded by grace notes

VII- Aquarium

Strings without double-bass, two pianos, flute, and glass harmonica: This is one of the more musically rich movements. The melody is played by the flute, backed by the strings, on top of tumultuous, glissando like runs in the piano. The first piano plays a descending ten-on-one ostinato, while the second plays a six-on-one. These figures, plus the occasional glissando from the harmonica—often played on celesta or glockenspiel—are evocative of a peaceful, dimly-lit aquarium.

VIII- Personnages à longues oreilles (Characters with Long Ears)

Two violins: This is surely the least lyrical of the pieces; the violins alternate playing high, shrill screeches and low, buzzing notes that can hardly be considered melodious.

IX- Le coucou au fond des bois (The Cuckoo in the Depths of the Woods)

Two pianos and clarinet: The pianos play large, soft chords while the clarinet plays a single two-note ostinato, over and over; a C and an A flat, mimicking the call of a cuckoo bird.

X- Volière (Aviary)

Strings, piano, and flute: The high strings take on a background role, providing a buzz in the background that is reminiscent of the background noise of a jungle. The cellos and basses play a pick up cadence to lead into most of the measures. The flute takes the part of the bird, with a trilling tune that spans much of its range. The pianos provide occasional pings and trills of other birds in the background. The movement ends very quietly after a long ascending scale from the flute.

XI- Pianistes (Pianists)

Strings and two pianos: This movement is a glimpse of what few audiences ever get to see: the pianists practicing their scales. The scales of C, D flat, D and E flat are covered. Each one starts with a trill on the first and second note, then proceeds in scales with a few changes in the rhythm. Transitions between keys are accomplished with a blasting chord from all the instruments between scales. After the four scales, the key changes back to C, where the pianos play a trill-like pattern in thirds while the strings play a small part underneath. This movement is unusual in that the last three blasted chords do not resolve the piece, but rather lead into the next movement, with a pattern similar to the chords that lead from the second to the third movements of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3.

XII- Fossiles (Fossils)

Strings, two pianos, clarinet, and xylophone: Here, Saint-Saëns mimics his own composition, the Danse Macabre, which makes heavy use of the xylophone to evoke the image of skeletons dancing, the bones clacking together to the beat. The musical themes from Danse Macabre are also quoted; the xylophone plays much of the melody, alternating with the piano and clarinet. The piano part is especially difficult here - octaves that jump in quick thirds. Allusions to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and to the aria Una Voce Poco Fa from Rossini's Barber of Seville can also be heard.

XIII- Le Cygne (The Swan)

Two pianos and cello: This is by far the most famous movement of the suite, often performed sole and is used to showcase the interpretive skills of the cellist. The lushly romantic cello solo is played over rippling sixteenths in one piano and rolled chords in the other.

XIV- Finale

Full ensemble: The Finale opens on the same tremolo notes in the pianos as in the introduction, which are soon reinforced by the wind instruments, the harmonica and the xylophone. The strings build the tension with a few low notes, leading to glissandi by the piano, then a pause before the lively main melody is introduced. This movement is somewhat reminiscent of an American carnival from the middle of the twentieth century, with one piano always maintaining a bouncy eighth note rhythm. Although the melody is relatively simple, the supporting harmonies are ornamented in the style that is typical of Saint-Saëns' compositions for piano; dazzling scales, glissandi and trills. Many of the previous movements are quoted here from the introduction, the asses, hens, and kangaroos. The work ends with a strong group of C major chords.

As the title suggests, the work follows a zoological program and progresses from the first movement, Introduction et marche royale du Lion, through portraits of elephants and donkeys ("Those with Long Ears") to a finale reprising many of the earlier motifs.

Several of the movements are of humorous intent:

• Pianistes depicts piano students practicing scales
• Tortues makes good use of the well-known Can-can from Jacques Offenbach's operetta Orpheus in the Underworld, playing the usually breakneck-speed melody at a slow, drooping pace.
• L'Éléphant is Hector Berlioz's Dances des sylphes much lower than usual as a double bass solo, and also briefly quotes the Scherzo from Felix Mendelssohn's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." It is heard at the end of the bridge section.
• Fossiles quotes Saint-Saëns' own Danse Macabre as well as three nursery rhymes, J'ai du bon tabac, Ah ! vous dirai-je, Maman (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star) and Au clair de la lune, also Rosina's aria, "Una voce poco fa", from The Barber of Seville
• The Personnages à longues oreilles section is thought to be directed at music critics: they are also supposedly the last animals heard during the finale, braying.

The ballet The Dying Swan is choreographed to the Swan section.

Ogden Nash wrote a set of humorous verses to accompany each movement, which are often recited when the work is performed. The conclusion of the verse for the "Fossils", for example, fits perfectly with the punchline-like first bar of the music:

At midnight in the museum hall

The fossils gathered for a ball

There were no drums or saxophones,

But just the clatter of their bones,

A rolling, rattling, carefree circus

Of mammoth polkas and mazurkas.

Pterodactyls and brontosauruses

Sang ghostly prehistoric choruses.

Amid the mastodontic wassail

I caught the eye of one small fossil.

Cheer up, sad world, he said, and winked-

It's kind of fun to be extinct.

Throughout the long-running Carry On Films, the elephant was used as the signature tune for the characters played by Hattie Jacques, when they first appeared on screen.

In 1976 Warner Brothers produced a television special featuring The Carnival of the Animals with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck playing the dual pianos (it opened with Bugs and Daffy arguing over the pronunciation of the composer's name--Camille Saint-Saëns or Camel Saynt Saynes).

In 1999, Walt Disney Feature Animation incorporated the Finale into Fantasia 2000. In the film, a flock of flamingos (the Snotty Six) is annoyed by another flamingo with a yo-yo and attempt to make him do the routines they do every day. The music was recorded by James Levine conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Aquarium is used as the opening and closing theme in the 1992 film documentary, Visions of Light.

A surf-rock version of Aquarium covered by Dick Dale was used as the theme song of the Space Mountain roller coaster at Disneyland in California from 1996 to 2003.

The Swan is used in the 2005 film My Summer of Love by P. Pawlikowski. Tamsin performs it on her cello when Mona visits her house for the first time.

Aquarium is featured in the trailer for the 2006 film Charlotte's Web, and appears to be one of the influences on the main theme in Walt Disney's Beauty and the Beast. It is also the opening theme music to the 1978 film Days of Heaven. In the Simpsons episode "The Wife Aquatic", the music is played throughout.

Australian/British classical crossover string quartet bond remade a version of Aquarium.

In Crash Tag Team Racing, in the Once Upon A Time track, Aquarium is featured.

• The Carnival of the Animals at the Internet Movie Database
• Fantasia 2000 at the Internet Movie Database
• recording with Neal and Nancy O'Doan and the Seattle Youth Symphony conducted by Vilem Sokol in Ogg Vorbis format
• The Carnival of the Animals was available at the International Music Score Library Project.
• Video Performance of Le Cygne by Julian Lloyd Webber