Published on January 22, 2025 at 09:04. / Modified on January 22, 2025 at 09:06.
3 mins. reading
It’s the story of an illustrious composer who creates a bestiary. An improbable semi-exotic menagerie where lion, chickens, turtles, kangaroos, birds, fossils rub shoulders: welcome to Carnival of the Animals. In 1886, Camille Saint-Saëns imagined this suite for instrumental ensemble in which he represented each species in music – majestic march for some, leaping chords for others –, citing in pastiche motifs inspired by Berlioz, Offenbach or Rossini. And to add a wink, he mischievously summons into his parade another beast… in concert: the pianists.
At the end of the 19th century, Saint-Saëns was at the top of his art, strong in his Dance of death, why Symphony with organ and a Legion of Honor – just that. Soon, the very serious French composer feared that this “Great Zoological Fantasy”, composed on the occasion of a Mardi Gras party at the cellist Charles Lebouc’s house, would taint his reputation. To the point that, after only two performances, he banned any public performance. It was not until the artist’s death in 1921 that the general public heard him again. “It’s funny, because this work that he didn’t take on has become, with the Dance of deathone of his best known,” emphasizes Alex Vizorek.
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