The Carnival of the Animals cello solo (which evokes the swan elegantly gliding over the water) is played over rippling sixteenths in one piano and rolled chords in the other (said to represent the swan's feet, hidden from view beneath the water, propelling it along). A staple of the cello repertoire, this is one of the most well-known movements of the suite, usually in the version for cello with solo piano which was the only publication of this work in Saint-Saëns's lifetime. More than twenty other arrangements of this movement have also been published, with solo instruments ranging from flute to alto saxophone. A short
The Country of Carnival edition was published in a print run of a thousand copies. It was enthusiastically received by, among others, Rachel de Queiroz. The two met and it was she who introduced him to the Communist Youth. Whilst in Salvador, Bahia during 1927-31, Amado had been a member of the Academia dos Rebeldes (Academy of Rebels), a literary group formed around the journalist and poet Pinheiro Viegas, who Amado credited with having a significant influence on "The Country of Carnival". Considered subversive, "The Country of Carnival" was one of the books of Amado and others that were burned in a public square