Classical Music | Music for Viola

Recorded on 02/10/2001, uploaded on 05/18/2011

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

In February 1886, Camille Saint-Saëns penned what would become one of his most famous compositions, Carnival of the Animals—a piece he admitted to his publisher was so much fun to write that he was neglecting work on his Third Symphony. The piece is scored for an unusual ensemble of instruments: two pianos, two violins, viola, cello, double bass, flute (and piccolo), clarinet, glass harmonica, and xylophone. Frequently, the glockenspiel is substituted for the rare glass harmonica. Less than half an hour in length, it comprises a total of fourteen movements, twelve of which are depictions of various animals, one a humorous, but good-natured, mockery of pianists’ arduous scale exercises, and a finale that quotes several of the previous movements. For the composer, Carnival of the Animals was a temporary respite from the task of serious composition and brief excursion into the popular vein of lighthearted trifles. Indeed, though he allowed several private performances of the work, Saint-Saëns purposefully withheld the work from publication until after his death, even going so far as to put it in his last will and testament, so as not to tarnish his image as a serious composer. Only on one instance did he relent: in 1887 he allowed an arrangement, prepared by his own hand, of the famous penultimate movement, The Swan, to be published.  In accordance with Saint-Saëns wishes, the suite was published by Durand in 1922, following the composer’s death the previous year. That same year it also received its first public performance. It has since become one Saint-Saëns’s most enduring compositions. Most beloved among its fourteen movements is undoubtedly The Swan. Perhaps the most serious of them all, The Swan relies on a lyrical solo cello to capture the graceful movements of the eloquent creature as it travels placidly across the water. Supporting the cello’s flowing melody is a rippling accompaniment of broken chords from the pianos.       Joseph DuBose