The Carnival of the Animals and xylophone. From the beginning, Saint-Saëns regarded the work as a piece of fun. On 9 February 1886 he wrote to his publishers Durand in Paris that he was composing a work for the coming Shrove Tuesday, and confessing that he knew he should be working on his Third Symphony, but that this work was "such fun" (). He had apparently intended to write the work for his students at the École Niedermeyer, but it was first performed at a private concert given by the cellist Charles Lebouc on Shrove Tuesday, 9 March 1886. A second (private) performance was given
Carnival in Colombia of opening the celebrations. In the following years the carnival grew in number of comparsas (krewes) and beauty queens. During the 1930s the national government and the council of Bogotá suspended the carnival due to disorders caused by alcohol consumption. An attempt to revive the carnival in 1960 failed again for reasons of alcohol abuse and violence. The Carnival was resurrected by the Mayor of Bogotá in a Government Resolution on April 14, 2005. The objective of the new Carnival was to promote a collective atmosphere of fellowship and to celebrate life, creative expression, and enjoyment. It further aimed to