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 Bern opportunity to present an anti-Catholic message during the carnival (or shrovetide) Lenten celebrations. Some Reformation era carnival plays depicted contrasts between Catholics and Protestants, while others contrasted Jews and gentiles, such as in "Goliath" by Hans von Rüte. Niklaus Manuel was the first writer to present ideas for reform and to belittle the Papacy in his plays. In 1522 he wrote two farces about the Pope, in which he showed the difference between the Pope and his priests, and Jesus. Real life events, in particular the Battle of Novara (1513), created the backdrop for Manuel's writings. He wrote about Cardinal