Henri Cazalis (; 9 March 1840, Cormeilles-en-Parisis, Val-d'Oise – 1 July 1909, Geneva) was a French physician who was a

symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

poet and man of letters and wrote under the

pseudonyms A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

of Jean Caselli and Jean Lahor. His works include: *''Chants populaires de l'Italie'' (1865) *''Vita tristis, Reveries fantastiques, Romances sans musique'' (1865) *''Melancholia'' (1868) *''Le Livre du néant'' (1872) *''Henry Regnault, sa vie et son œuvre'' (1872) *''L'Illusion'' (1875-1893) *''Cantique des cantiques'' (1885) *''Les Quatrains d'Al-Gazali'' (1896) *'' William Morris'' (1897). The author of the ''Livre du néant'' had a predilection for gloomy subjects and especially for pictures of death. His oriental habits of thought earned for him the title of the ''Hindou du Parnasse contemporain'' (cf. '' Le Parnasse contemporain''). Some of his poems have been set to music by

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 ...

, Henri Duparc, Charles Bordes, Ernest Chausson, Reynaldo Hahn, Edouard Trémisot and Paul Paray. He also maintained a correspondence of interest with the poet

Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of ...

from 1862 to 1871. See a notice by Paul Bourget in ''Anthologie des poétes fr. du XIXieme siècle'' (1887-1888); Jules Lemaître, ''Les Contemporains'' (1889); Émile Faguet in the ''Revue bleue'' (October 1893). George Santayana's ''Poetry and Religion'' (1900) has an essay on his concept of ''La gloire du néant''.

Danse Macabre

Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre (Dance of Death) is based on this poem written by Henri Cazalis. Zig, zig, zig, Death in cadence, Striking with his heel a tomb, Death at midnight plays a dance-tune, Zig, zig, zig, on his violin. The winter wind blows and the night is dark; Moans are heard in the linden-trees. Through the gloom, white skeletons pass, Running and leaping in their shrouds. Zig, zig, zig, each one is frisking. The bones of the dancers are heard to crack- But hist! of a sudden they quit the round, They push forward, they fly; the cock has crowed.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cazalis, Henri 1840 births 1909 deaths People from Cormeilles-en-Parisis French poets 19th-century French writers French male poets French medical writers 19th-century poets 19th-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers