Beauty’s Aquarium: How Beauty and the Beast was Inspired by The Carnival of the Animals

Happy Friday! On deck for today: a film/classical mash-up of Beauty and the Beast and “Aquarium” from Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals. But first, some background.

The Carnival of the Animals

In 1886, French composer (and organist/pianist/conductor) Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) composed and premiered his fun and humorous chamber work The Carnival of the Animals. Each of the 14 movements represents an animal, and when the movements are put together the work is a parade of color, sound, and images.

*Side note: In The Carnival of the Animals, Saint-Saëns wrote a part for the glass harmonica – a rare instrument with a distinct sound. Check out this cool video demonstrating the glass harmonica and discussing its history.

*Fun fact: The glass harmonica was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761!

Aquarium

“Aquarium” is the seventh movement of The Carnival of the Animals. Two pianos play running arpeggios while the flute sings the melody (supported by the strings) with the occasional glissando by the glass harmonica. The whole thing sounds eerily like a shimmering underwater atmosphere.

Beauty and the Beast

For an in-depth look at the Beauty and the Beast score, read this article.

Prologue

“Prologue” opens with a beautiful melody over an accompaniment of muted 16th notes. There’s an atmosphere of anticipation, foreshadowing the story of Beauty and the Beast with all of its magic, fear, and love.

Temp Music

Rumor has it that while Alan Menken was composing “Prologue” for Beauty and the Beast, the director used “Aquarium” as what is known as a temp track: an existing piece of music used during the editing phase of a film to help guide the mood while the composer is still writing the score. Menken has said himself that he “had to come up with [his] own version of The Carnival of the Animals . . . at the top of the movie, which is a very impressive and very timeless  piece of music. [He had to] weave a spell and that’s the prologue music.”

Because of this, “Prologue” and “Aquarium” are very similar. They each have a simple and subtle melody over a glittering arpeggio ostinato (an ostinato is a repeated melodic or rhythmic idea in an accompaniment), they have similar key centers (A minor), and they both create distinct atmospheres projecting the unknown and the mysterious.

The West Wing

Fast forward to a piece called “The West Wing”, where Belle sneaks into the Beast’s room and finds the enchanted rose:

Listen specifically at 0:38 in the video. The movement of the melody with the arpeggios in the accompaniment sound very much like “Aquarium”. You can hear the “Prologue” music in this piece as well (1:08).

Beauty’s Aquarium

Because of the relationship between the music from Beauty and the Beast and “Aquarium”, I wrote a piano arrangement of these pieces mixed together:

If you like the arrangement, download the sheet music for free here:

Did you know that the famous music from Beauty and the Beast was inspired by a classical work? Click to read about it!

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I'm a pianist, composer, writer, photographer, and overall classical-music-lover who is always open to new sounds.

24 thoughts on “Beauty’s Aquarium: How Beauty and the Beast was Inspired by The Carnival of the Animals

  1. I love the way you introduce so many threads and snippets of intriguing information.. and your illustrations are gorgeous… such a satisfying experience reading your blog…thank you…you engage the eye, the ear and the mind… a rare gift…

  2. I just watched episode 2 of Nine Perfect Strangers on Hulu and it featured The Carnival of the Animals: Aquarium. I thought to myself – Is that the music from Beauty and the Beast? because it evoked the same wonderment/eerie feeling. I listen to the B&tB soundtrack… nope, different song. Then I search for info on Carnival and your site shows up. VINDICATED! LOL. Thank you for sharing this, I appreciated the lesson. You play so beautifully!

  3. I was listening to Carnival of the Animals on Pandora and I thought, my gosh, that’s beauty and the beast. (I can’t tell you how many times I saw the movie when my daughter was small). So I did a search and your blog came up! Thanks so much for your research and your sharing of your knowledge of the history of music.

    The Beauty and the Beast music sounded almost identical. Is it OK to do that? I am not trying to be critical but it sounds like it was taken directly from Sain-Saens. I think this is done a lot with music that’s in the public domain, is that true?

    1. Thank you for your comments! Technically, copying music identically is legally allowed if the work is in the public domain. Many film composers draw on classical music for inspiration and ideas. I’ve even used Bach chorales in some of my works as a way of exploring today’s musical styles with the Baroque Era. There are actually many technical differences between Saint-Saens and Beauty and the Beast; it is my opinion that Menken changed it *enough* to keep the same atmosphere without directly copying Carnival of the Animals. (I’d also like to note that Menken is still alive and composing; it was his fellow lyricist Howard Ashman who was diagnosed with AIDS.)

  4. Just found this on a deep dive after hearing aquarium in a simpsons episode (s18, e10) and thinking the song sounded similar to Beauty and the Beast. Amazing work you are very talented <3

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