Danse macabre (Saint-Saëns)

For the medieval allegory, see Danse Macabre.

Danse macabre, Op. 40, is a tone poem for orchestra, written in 1874 by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. It started out in 1872 as an art song for voice and piano with a French text by the poet Henri Cazalis, which is based in an old French superstition. In 1874, the composer expanded and reworked the piece into a tone poem, replacing the vocal line with a solo violin.

Analysis

According to legend, "Death" appears at midnight every year on Halloween. Death calls forth the dead from their graves to dance their dance of death 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 (or "Devil's interval") consisting of an A and an E-flat—in an example of scordatura tuning, the violinist's E string has actually been tuned down to an E-flat 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 section based on the second theme, there is a direct quote played by the woodwinds of the Dies irae, a Gregorian chant from the Requiem Mass that is melodically related to the work's second theme. The Dies irae is presented in a major key, which is unusual. 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 a abrupt break in the texture and the coda represents the dawn breaking (a cockerel's crow, played by the oboe) and the skeletons returning to their graves.

The piece makes particular use of the xylophone to imitate the sounds of rattling bones. Saint-Saëns uses a similar motif in the Fossils movement of The Carnival of the Animals.

Instrumentation

Danse macabre is scored for an obbligato violin, as well as the following orchestra:

• Woodwinds: piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in B-flat, 2 bassoons

• Brass: 4 horns in G and D, 2 trumpets in D, 3 trombones, tuba

• Percussion: timpani, xylophone, bass drum, cymbals, triangle

• Strings: harp, violins I, II, violas, violoncellos, double basses

Text

An English translation of the poem follows:

Zig, zig, zig, Death in cadence,

Striking a tomb with his heel,

Death at midnight plays a dance-tune,

Zig, zig, zag, on his violin.

The winter wind blows, and the night is dark;

Moans are heard in the linden trees.

White skeletons pass through the gloom,

Running and leaping in their shrouds.

Zig, zig, zig, each one is frisking,

You can hear the cracking of the bones of the dancers.

A lustful couple sits on the moss

So as to taste long lost delights.

Zig zig, zig, Death continues

The unending scraping on his instrument.

A veil has fallen! The dancer is naked.

Her partner grasps her amorously.

The lady, it's said, is a marchioness or baroness

And her green gallant, a poor cartwright.

Horror! Look how she gives herself to him,

Like the rustic was a baron.

Zig, zig, zig. What a saraband!

They all hold hands and dance in circles.

Zig, zig, zag. You can see in the crowd

The king dancing among the peasants.

But hist! All of a sudden, they leave the dance,

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

Oh what a beautiful night for the poor world!

Long live death and equality!

Reception

When Danse macabre first premiered, it was not received well.^{[citation needed]} Audiences were quite unsettled by the disturbing, yet innovative, sounds that Saint-Saëns elicited. Shortly after the premiere, it was transcribed into a piano arrangement by Franz Liszt (S.555), a good friend of Saint-Saëns. It was again later transcribed into a popular piano arrangement by virtuoso pianist Vladimir Horowitz. The pipe organ transcription by Lemare is also popular.

Eventually, the piece was used in dance recitals, particularly those of Anna Pavlova.

In popular media

Danse macabre has been used as background music in many movies and television series, including:

• The audiobook of The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman uses Danse macabre played by Béla Fleck as introductions of its chapters, and the piece itself inspires one of the chapters of the book.
• The TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (in the mostly dialogue-free "Hush").
• The theme tune to the British murder-mystery series Jonathan Creek starring Alan Davies.
• A key scene in Jean Renoir's 1939 film The Rules of the Game.
• Mickey Mouse Works for the Silly Symphony's version of Hansel and Gretel, starring Mickey and Minnie.
• The American film Tombstone accompanying a stage production of the story of Faust.
• The documentary The Road to Dracula, about the film Dracula with Béla Lugosi.
• The TV Series Grimm Season 1 Episode 5 is titled Danse Macabre and features the song played several times by a young troubled violin virtuoso and in a recital rehearsal.
• The movie "Hugo" uses the song in a flashback scene, being played at a screening of "L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat".
• The BBC TV Series The Magicians uses the basic melody for its theme music.

Other uses include:

• The Dutch amusement park Efteling uses it as the background theme for their haunted castle.
• A record containing this song is used to solve a puzzle in the original Alone in the Dark game.

The theme song for a Seattle, Washington based radio show, Imagination Theater as a theme song for the "Sherlock Holmes" installments.

• In theater, Henrik Ibsen uses this song in his play John Gabriel Borkman: the title character of the play, Hedda Gabler, plays it right before she kills herself.
• Also in theater, Jeffery Hatcher's "The Turn of the Screw" incorporates "Danse Macabre" in a scene as a way to increase tension and uneasiness. The actor playing Miles must hum or sing the piece over a monologue which is spoken by the Governess.
• The "rock orchestra" Esperanto titled their third album Dance Macabre, and its final track included a version of Saint-Saëns' piece.
• A television advertisement for Jameson Irish Whiskey
• Figure skater Kim Yu-Na used the music for her 2008-2009 short program, breaking the short program record at the time and winning the 2009 World Figure Skating Championships with the program.

External links

Sheet music

• Free sheet music from Cantorion.org
• Danse macabre: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.

Audio

• Recording of Danse macabre on YouTube