BIOGRAPHY

When Camille Saint-Saëns was just a toddler, his mother and his great-aunt began teaching him music. He was only five years old when he gave his first public piano performance. When he was seven, he began to study with other teachers, and he had already begun composing his own music. He became one of the most famous French composers.

Saint-Saëns also liked to write poetry, scientific papers, and essays about music. Sometimes he made enemies because he insulted his fellow musicians when he wrote about them.

One of Saint-Saëns’ most well-known compositions, The Carnival of the Animals, was originally written to make fun of some of his friends. Now, it is enjoyed by children all over the world for the pictures it paints of animals.