Le Carnaval des animaux. Written in March 1886 as a humorous occasional work for the traditional carnival concert organized by his cellist friend Charles-Joseph Lebouc, the Carnival of the Animals was so successful that Saint-Saëns banned performances and publication soon afterwards. He was worried that this ?grand zoological fantasy? - consisting of 14 short individual pieces for eleven instruments - might overshadow his serious works. Yet only five months after the composer?s death, it appeared in print after all, beginning its worldwide victory march - in its original setting as well as in numerous arrangements. Thus, the Carnival did in fact arguably become the most popular work by this French composer and, owing to its musical originality, it is also a favourite in music lessons or for school orchestra performances. With this combination of a study edition and an edition in parts (for which additional parts for larger numbers of strings may be ordered), G. Henle Publishers now presents the perfect resource for such occasions.

Par RHEINBERGER JOSEF GABRIEL. Rheinberger’s string quartets, his string quintet and his nonet for winds and strings were often performed and were very successful works during his lifetime. Their density, but also the delicateness of the scherzo movements are in the tradition of Schumann and Mendelssohn and these traits are combined with Rheinberger’s sense for the clear, defined structure of the movements and solid contrapuntal writing. The octet for winds and strings is published here for the first time and the nonet, which is actually a reworking of this octet that Rheinberger undertook some twenty years later, is also published in this volume. Rheinberger made major changes from the original octet and headded two new movements to the nonet. Both works show especially the interest and pleasure which he derived from the variety in the differentiation of colors in ensemble playing. The Thema mit Veränderungen op. 93, which until now has been known as a work for string quartet, is published here with the double bass part which Rheinberger later added./ Répertoire / Ensemble de Chambre