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 on 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 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 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 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'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 and an orchestra consisting of one piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in B-flat, two bassoons; four horns in G and D, two trumpets in D, three trombones, one tuba; a percussion section that includes timpani, xylophone, bass drum, cymbals and triangle; one harp and strings.

Text

The text comes from the poem "Égalité, Fraternité...", part of Jean Lahor's (a pseudonym of Henri Cazalis) l'Illusion.

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 well received. 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

Many American Halloween cartoons have been inspired by Danse macabre, most notably the animations featuring Harold Dexter Hoopes' watercolors and the PBS Halloween special, aired in 1980, which were often shown in elementary school.

In addition, Danse macabre has been used as background music in many forms of media:

• 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 employs the music in the mostly dialogue-free "Hush"
• It serves as 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 uses the song.
• Mickey Mouse Works uses the song for the Silly Symphonies version of Hansel and Gretel, starring Mickey and Minnie.
• The American film Tombstone; Danse macabre accompanies a stage production of the story of Faust.
• An episode of the TV series Grimm is titled "Danse Macabre" and features the song played several times by a young troubled violin virtuoso 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 in its theme music, by Paul Farrer.
• 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.
• 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.
• Jeffery Hatcher's theatrical production of 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.
• It was also used for the 2011 BBC Proms by Horrible Histories, to illustrate the level of death during the Middle Ages in Britain.
• It is the background music of the Carnival level in the game 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue for PlayStation.
• 2010 Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yuna used Danse Macabre as the music for her short program for the 2008–2009 season. At the World Championships, Kim achieved a world record score for the program, and went on to place first at the event.

References

1. ^ [IMSLP full score, page 3
2. ^ [full score, page 4, 4th bar
3. ^ [full score, page 13, rehearsal letter C
4. ^ [full score, page 16, rehearsal letter D
5. ^ [full score, page 50, 6th bar
6. ^ Salle, Michael (2004). Franz Liszt: A Guide to Research. New York: Routledge. p. 460. ISBN 0-415-94011-7. 
7. ^ Garafola, Lynn (2005). Legacies of Twentieth-century Dance. New York: Wesleyan University Press. pp. 155–156. ISBN 978-0-8195-6674-4. 
8. ^ Restoration of the original cartoon, including details
9. ^ Animation on YouTube
10. ^ Rare Halloween Videos Blog
11. ^ Animation on YouTube