Camille Saint-Saëns (san-SAHNS) was a French composer. To say his name correctly, you have to say it through your nose, but only a Frenchman can really do it right!  By now you know that he was probably a child prodigy.  When he was two and a half years old, he began piano lessons. He finished his first exercise book in a month and cried for more! He was taught to read musical notation when he was three, and he was composing songs and piano pieces when he was five. When he was only four and a half, he played the piano in a performance of a Beethoven sonata for violin and piano. He went on to become a great organist and composer.

Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals is familiar to most children. At Halloween time you may also hear his Danse macabre. It is a tone poem based on a word poem by Henri Cazalis. Saint-Saëns paints a musical picture of the poem. We hear the striking of midnight on the harp; you can count twelve strokes. Then Death tunes his violin, and the dance melody begins. The xylophone was a relatively new instrument in the orchestra. Saint-Saëns used it to depict the rattling of the skeletons' bones. The second theme is quieter as the ghosts float through the air. The dancing pace grows faster and faster until suddenly we hear the cock crow. Dawn has arrived, and the skeletons scurry back to their cold beds. If you listen carefully, you can hear the lids of two coffins bang shut! They will not return until next Halloween.

(You will not hear all of the story in the short theme that we are learning.  Hopefully you will like the music enough to find a recording of complete works and listen to it. It is good entertainment for a spooky party!)