''Danse macabre'', Op. 40, is a

tone poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...

for orchestra, written in 1874 by the French composer

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (; 9 October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano C ...

. It premiered 24 January 1875. It is in the key of

G minor G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major. According to Paolo Pietropaolo, it is the con ...

. It started out in 1872 as an art song for voice and piano with a French text by the poet Henri Cazalis, based on the play Danza macàbra by Camillo Antona-Traversi. In 1874, the composer expanded and reworked the piece into a tone poem, replacing the vocal line with a solo violin part.

Analysis

According to legend,

Death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

appears at midnight every year on

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

. Death calls forth the dead from their

graves A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grave ...

to dance for him while he plays his fiddle (here represented by a solo violin). His skeletons dance for him until the rooster crows at dawn, when they must return to their graves until the next year. The piece opens with a harp playing a single note, D, twelve times (the twelve strokes of midnight) which is accompanied by soft chords from the string section. The solo violin enters playing the

tritone In music theory, the tritone is defined as a musical interval composed of three adjacent whole tones (six semitones). For instance, the interval from F up to the B above it (in short, F–B) is a tritone as it can be decomposed into the three adj ...

, which was known as the ''

diabolus in musica ''Diabolus in Musica'' (Latin for "The Devil in Music") is the eighth studio album by American thrash metal band Slayer, released on June 9, 1998, by American Recordings. Guitarist Jeff Hanneman wrote most of the album's content, which has be ...

'' ("the Devil in music") during the Medieval and

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

eras, consisting of an A and an E—in an example of

scordatura Scordatura (; literally, Italian for "discord", or "mistuning") is a tuning of a string instrument that is different from the normal, standard tuning. It typically attempts to allow special effects or unusual chords or timbre, or to make certain pa ...

tuning, the violinist's E string has actually been tuned down to an E to create the dissonant tritone. The first theme is heard on a solo flute, followed by the second theme, a descending scale on the solo violin which is accompanied by soft chords from the string section. The first and second themes, or fragments of them, are then heard throughout the various sections of the orchestra. The piece becomes more energetic and at its midpoint, right after a

contrapuntal In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

section based on the second theme, there is a direct quote played by the woodwinds of '' Dies irae'', a

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek (language), Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed ma ...

from the Requiem that is melodically related to the work's second theme. The ''Dies irae'' is presented unusually in a major key. After this section the piece returns to the first and second themes and climaxes with the full orchestra playing very strong dynamics. Then there is an abrupt break in the texture and the coda represents the dawn breaking (a

cockerel The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domestication, domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey junglefowl, grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster ...

's crow, played by the

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

) and the skeletons returning to their graves. The piece makes particular use of the

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in ...

to imitate the sounds of rattling bones. Saint-Saëns uses a similar motif in the ''Fossils'' movement of ''

The Carnival of the Animals ''The Carnival of the Animals'' (''Le Carnaval des animaux'') is a humorous musical suite of fourteen movements, including " The Swan", by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The work, about 25 minutes in duration, was written for privat ...

''. The progression and melody of the minor waltz are similar to the jibes (e.g. "their sweethearts all are dead") of the Sailors' Chorus in "Helmsman/Steersman, Leave Your Watch," which begins the third act of Wagner's earlier opera, "The Flying Dutchman".

Instrumentation

''Danse macabre'' is scored for an

obbligato In Western classical music, ''obbligato'' (, also spelled ''obligato'') usually describes a musical line that is in some way indispensable in performance. Its opposite is the marking ''ad libitum''. It can also be used, more specifically, to indic ...

violin and an orchestra consisting of one

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

, two

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

s, two

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

s in B, two

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

s; four

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...

in G and D, two

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

s in D, three

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

s, one

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

; a percussion section that includes

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionall ...

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...

cymbals A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs soun ...

and

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three Edge (geometry), edges and three Vertex (geometry), vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, an ...

; one

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

and

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

Reception

When ''Danse macabre'' was first performed on January 24, 1875 it was not well received and caused widespread feelings of anxiety. The 21st century scholar, Roger Nichols, mentions adverse reaction to "the deformed ''Dies irae'' plainsong", the "horrible screeching from solo violin", the use of a xylophone, and "the hypnotic repetitions", in which Nichols hears a pre-echo of

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

's '' Boléro''.Nichols, Roger (2012), Notes to Chandos CD CHSA 5104, OCLC 794163802 Today, it is considered one of Saint-Saëns' masterpieces, widely regarded and reproduced in both high and popular culture.

Transcriptions

Shortly after the premiere, the piece was transcribed into a piano solo arrangement by

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

(S.555), a good friend of Saint-Saëns. Next to countless other piano solo transcriptions,

Ernest Guiraud Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor *Ernest, M ...

wrote a version for piano four hands and Saint-Saëns himself wrote a version for two pianos, and in 1877 also a version for violin and piano. In 1942,

Vladimir Horowitz Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz; yi, וולאַדימיר סאַמוילאָוויטש האָראָוויץ, group=n (November 5, 1989)Schonberg, 1992 was a Russian-born American classical pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all ...

made extensive changes to the Liszt transcription. This version is played most often today. There is an arrangement for

Pierrot ensemble A Pierrot ensemble is a musical ensemble comprising flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano. This ensemble is named after 20th-century composer Arnold Schoenberg’s seminal work ''Pierrot Lunaire'', which includes the quintet of instruments abo ...

(flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano) by Tim Mulleman, and an organ transcription by

Edwin Lemare Edwin Henry LemareFrequently misspelled "Lamare" in early publications (9 September 1865 – 24 September 1934) was an English organist and composer who lived the latter part of his life in the United States. He was one of the most highly regard ...

Usage

*This piece can be heard in the play performed at the end of the movie

Shrek The Third ''Shrek the Third'' (also known as ''Shrek 3'') is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 picture book '' Shrek!'' by William Steig, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The se ...

. * The piece was later used in dance performances, including those of

Anna Pavlova Anna Pavlovna Pavlova ( , rus, Анна Павловна Павлова ), born Anna Matveyevna Pavlova ( rus, Анна Матвеевна Павлова; – 23 January 1931), was a Russian prima ballerina of the late 19th and the early 20t ...

. * The piece is played offstage during the first act of Henrik Ibsen's 1896 play ''

John Gabriel Borkman ''John Gabriel Borkman'' is a 1896 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was his penultimate work. Plot The Borkman family fortunes have been brought low by the imprisonment of John Gabriel who used his position as a bank manager to ...

.'' * The piece was used for the trailer of 1922 Swedish-Danish silent horror film

Häxan ''Häxan'' (, "The Witch"; Danish: ''Heksen''; English: ''The Witches''; released in the US in 1968 as ''Witchcraft Through the Ages'') is a 1922 silent horror essay film written and directed by Benjamin Christensen. Consisting partly of d ...

. * The piece is used as a recurring ironic motif in Jean Renoir's 1939 film ''

The Rules of the Game ''The Rules of the Game'' (original French title: ''La règle du jeu'') is a 1939 French satirical comedy-drama film directed by Jean Renoir. The ensemble cast includes Nora Gregor, Paulette Dubost, Mila Parély, Marcel Dalio, Julien Carette, ...

'' (La Règle du Jeu), * The music was heard in a 2002

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

film ''

Mickey's House of Villains ''Mickey's House of Villains'' (also known as ''House of Mouse: The Villains'') is a 2002 American direct-to-video animated comedy-horror film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. It is based on the animated television series, '' House o ...

'' and the 1999

Mickey Mouse Works ''Mickey Mouse Works'' (also known as ''Disney's Mickey Mouse Works'' or simply ''Mouse Works'') is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation featuring Mickey Mouse and his friends in a series of animate ...

episode titled Hansel and Gretel, starring Mickey Mouse &

Minnie Mouse Minnie Mouse is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. As the longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a bow, polka-dotted dress, white bloomers, and low-heeled shoes occasiona ...

as the titular duo. * An adaptation of the piece is used as the theme music for ''

Jonathan Creek ''Jonathan Creek'' is a long-running British mystery crime drama series produced by the BBC and written by David Renwick. It stars Alan Davies as the titular character, who works as a creative consultant to a stage magician while also solvi ...

'', a mystery crime series on British television. * The piece is used in the animated television series ''

Modern Toss ''Modern Toss'' is a British comic by Jon Link and Mick Bunnage. Renowned for their scurrilous humour and highly stylised animation, it was created in 2004, initially as a website publishing single panel jokes and then as series of irregularly ...

'' as the theme tune for the character ''Mr. Tourette – Master Signwriter''. * The piece is used in the Dutch theme park ''

Efteling Efteling () is a fantasy-themed amusement park in Kaatsheuvel, the Netherlands. The attractions reflect elements from ancient myths and legends, fairy tales, fables, and folklore. The park was opened on May 31, 1952. It evolved from a nature p ...

'' in the attraction Haunted Castle and its currently in-development successor ''Danse Macabre''. * It can be heard in ''Alone in the Dark'' after setting the record on the Gramophone in the Dance Hall. * A portion of the piece can be heard in the 1993

western film The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

'' Tombstone'' during the performance of the stage version of ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...

''. * A synthesized version of the piece is used in the soundtrack for the anime television series

Dimension W ''Dimension W'' is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yūji Iwahara. It was published in Square Enix's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Young Gangan'' from September 2011 to November 2015 and later in '' Monthly Big Gangan'' fr ...

. * In Neil Gaiman's novel ''

The Graveyard Book ''The Graveyard Book'' is a young adult novel by the English author Neil Gaiman, simultaneously published in Britain and America in 2008. ''The Graveyard Book'' traces the story of the boy Nobody "Bod" Owens who is adopted and reared by the s ...

'' the characters dance the "Macabray." In the audiobook, ''Danse macabre'' is played between chapters. * The piece is also referenced in Neil Gaiman's book '' American Gods''. * Korean figure skater

Yuna Kim Yuna Kim (; born September 5, 1990), also credited in eastern name order as Kim Yuna or Kim Yeon-a, is a retired South Korean competitive figure skater. She is the 2010 Olympic champion and 2014 Olympic silver medalist in ladies' singles, ...

used the piece as her short program music in 2008-2009 season. * The piece is used in several instances during the 2011 ''

Grimm Grimm may refer to: People * Grimm (surname) * Brothers Grimm, German linguists ** Jacob Grimm (1785–1863), German philologist, jurist and mythologist ** Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859), German author, the younger of the Brothers Grimm * Christia ...

'' episode ''

Danse Macabre The ''Danse Macabre'' (; ) (from the French language), also called the Dance of Death, is an artistic genre of allegory of the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death. The ''Danse Macabre'' consists of the dead, or a personification of ...

'', which is named after the piece. * The 2011 film ''

Hugo Hugo or HUGO may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese * Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback * Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on ...

'' features the piece during a brief scene showing the history of early films. * The piece can be heard during the New Year's Eve festivities in the 2014 gothic horror film, '' Stonehearst Asylum.'' * The piece is used in the 2014 production "Immortal" by

The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps (also known as "The Green Machine") is a World Class competitive junior drum and bugle corps based in Rosemont, Illinois. The Cavaliers were one of the thirteen founding member corps of Drum Corps Internationa ...

. * The piece is played in the ''

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' is an American supernatural fiction, supernatural drama television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon. It is based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (film), 1992 film of the same name, also written by W ...

'' episode "

Hush Hush may refer to: Film and television * ''Hush'' (1921 film), starring Clara Kimball Young * ''Hush'' (1998 film), starring Gwyneth Paltrow * ''Hush!'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film directed by Ryosuke Hashiguchi * ''Hush'' (2005 film), starring ...

", in which the character ''

Rupert Giles Rupert Giles is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''. The character is portrayed by Anthony Stewart Head. He serves as Buffy Summers' mentor and surrogate father figure. The characte ...

'' plays the song while describing the episode's villains, the Gentlemen. * The piece is arranged in multiple levels of ''The End is Nigh'', such as "The End" and "Mortaman". * The piece is used in the opening of Season 2 Episode 8 of the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

original, ''

Mr. Robot ''Mr. Robot'' is an American drama thriller television series created by Sam Esmail for USA Network. It stars Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker with social anxiety disorder, clinical depression and dissociati ...

''. * The piece is used in multiple episodes of the television series ''

What We Do in the Shadows ''What We Do in the Shadows'' is a 2014 New Zealand mockumentary horror comedy film written and directed by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi and the first installment in the ''What We Do in the Shadows'' franchise. The film also stars Clem ...

''. * The piece is used as a track in the Napoleonic Wars expansion pack for the game '' Mount & Blade: Warband'' by TaleWorlds Entertainment. * The piece is used in the first episode of '' Don't F**k With Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer''. * The piece is used as the main theme for '' Ratched''.

References

External links

*
Recording of the Franz Liszt arrangement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Danse macabre (Saint-Saens) 1874 compositions Compositions by Camille Saint-Saëns Compositions in G minor Death in music Halloween compositions Music based on art Music based on European myths and legends Music based on poems Music with dedications Symphonic poems The Devil in classical music