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  • Danse Macabre Program Notes

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    Michelle Kitsis
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    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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    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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    59 views2 pages

    Danse Macabre Program Notes

    Uploaded by

    Michelle Kitsis
    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

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 2

    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—


    Michelle Kitsis

    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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