There is a famous solo ballet dance called The Dying Swan which is set to this tune.Īll the instruments join in the Finale which has bits from nearly all the movements.#44 CARNIVAL OF ANIMALS & DANSE MACABRE - Updated 9/12/15 TOPICS (Just click on the title you want to view) It is a lovely tune which sounds like a swan swimming gracefully along. This is one of the most famous of all tunes for the cello. Saint-Saëns was saying that these tunes were old-fashioned (like fossils). There are bits of other tunes as well: "Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman" (known in the English-speaking world as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star), the French nursery rhymes "Au Clair de la Lune" and "J'ai du bon tabac", the popular anthem Partant pour la Syrie as well as the aria Una Voce Poco Fa from Rossini's Barber of Seville. Saint-Saëns is making a joke about himself, because he uses a tune from one of his own works: the Danse Macabre. The xylophone plays a fast tune which sounds like skeletons playing. Because of this, in some performances, the pianists become out of time with each other on purpose. When this movement was first published, a note was included that said that "Performers should imitate the playing of beginners, and their awkwardness". Saint-Saëns makes them seem rather stupid as they practise their scales. This is another joke, because “pianists” are people who play the piano, they are not animals. It sounds like birds flying in an aviary (bird cage). The flute has a very delicate, fast tune accompanied by strings and pianos. In the original sheet music, it is said that the clarinet player should move off stage, to make it sound more like the cuckoo is calling from a distance. Now and again the clarinet plays two notes which sound like the call of the cuckoo. The pianos play gentle chords, like someone walking quietly through a forest.
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