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Danse Macabre: Saint-Saëns' Eerie Symphony

The piece Danse Macabre by Saint-Saëns was inspired by the legend of Death playing his fiddle at midnight, causing the dead to rise from their graves and dance until dawn. Originally conceived for voice and piano, it is now typically performed as an orchestral work. The music depicts various elements of the legend through its themes, including the ringing of midnight bells, Death tuning his instrument, and a climactic fugue representing the awakened dead dancing more lively until the cock crows and sends them back to their graves. Saint-Saëns' arrangement for two pianos highlights the instruments' virtuosity while embodying the eerie atmosphere and imagery of rattling bones through its percuss

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Michelle Kitsis
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194 views2 pages

Danse Macabre: Saint-Saëns' Eerie Symphony

The piece Danse Macabre by Saint-Saëns was inspired by the legend of Death playing his fiddle at midnight, causing the dead to rise from their graves and dance until dawn. Originally conceived for voice and piano, it is now typically performed as an orchestral work. The music depicts various elements of the legend through its themes, including the ringing of midnight bells, Death tuning his instrument, and a climactic fugue representing the awakened dead dancing more lively until the cock crows and sends them back to their graves. Saint-Saëns' arrangement for two pianos highlights the instruments' virtuosity while embodying the eerie atmosphere and imagery of rattling bones through its percuss

Uploaded by

Michelle Kitsis
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Michelle Kitsis

Danse Macabre- Programme Notes

Long before Michael Jackson’s Thriller or the zombie craze that is prominent in present

day, legend has it that the dead would dance to the eerie melodies played on the fiddle by

Death himself. Rising from their graves at the stroke of midnight, the dead would shake, clatter

and move their rattily bones through the entire night until the cock’s crow at dawn, sending

them back under their graves.

The third of Saint-Saën’s symphonic poems, Danse Macabre, was premiered in 1874.

Written in 3/4, the broad legato waltz theme that starts the piece can be identified as an

adaptation of the Dies Irae, the ancient worship chant for the dead. Although Danse Macabre is

typically performed as an orchestral work, it was originally conceived for voice and piano. The

song was set to a verse by French poet Henri Cazalis (song translated in English below):

Zig, zig, zig, Death in a 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—


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But hist! of a sudden they quit the round,

They push forward, they fly; the cock has crowed.

With vivid imagery and animation, Saint-Saëns illustrates the eccentric legend of Death’s

frenzied dance through the influence of French music. Symbolic elements are seen

throughout the score including the ringing of the midnight bells, exemplified by 12 repeated

half notes on D to open the piece. This is followed by Death (portrayed as a fiddler) tuning

up to the “Devil’s interval” (tritone) and beginning the waltz theme. To contrast the waltz

theme, a xylophone-like staccato theme is apparent in a call and response manner. The

work’s middle section includes fugue-like passages, capturing melodic themes from the

opening. This fugue evokes the awakened as they become increasingly lively and melodic

themes overlap each other leading to a dramatic climax. The piece concludes with the

statement of a cock’s crow, bringing the corpses back to their graves.

Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre arrangement for two pianos exemplifies the virtuosic

capabilities of the piano. The eerie and unnerving atmosphere is highlighted within the

whirling harmonic figures and grand passages. The image of rattling bones is heard through

the percussive nature of the piano by employing contrasting articulations and rhythms. This

arrangement embodies a speech-like quality, as if Death (the fiddler) is conversing with the

dead, from one piano to the other. Danse Macabre is an intriguing and exciting work that

paints a vibrant image within every listener.

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