Danse Macabre (Saint-Saëns)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2009) |
|
||||||||
Danse macabre, Op. 40 by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns is an art song for voice and piano (first performed in 1872) with a French text by the poet Henri Cazalis which is based in an old French superstition. Two years later, the composer expanded and reworked the piece into a tone poem for orchestra, replacing the vocal line with a solo violin.
Contents |
[edit] Analysis
According to the superstition, "Death" appears at midnight every year on Halloween. Death has the power to call forth the dead from their graves to dance for him while he plays his fiddle (represented by a solo violin with its E-string tuned to an E-flat in an example of scordatura tuning). His skeletons dance for him until the first break of 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 to signify the clock striking midnight, accompanied by soft chords from the string section. This then leads to the eerie E flat and A chords (also known as a tritone or the "Devil's chord", and the solo violin's E string is tuned a half step lower to accommodate this) played by a solo violin, representing death on his fiddle. After which the main theme is heard on a solo flute and is followed by a descending scale on the solo violin. The rest of the orchestra, particularly the lower instruments of the string section, then joins in on the descending scale. The main theme and the scale is then heard throughout the various sections of the orchestra until it breaks to the solo violin and the harp playing the scale. The piece becomes more energetic and climaxes at this point, the full orchestra playing with strong dynamics. Towards the end of the piece, there is another violin solo, now modulating, which is then joined by the rest of the orchestra. The final section, a pianissimo, represents the dawn breaking and the skeletons returning to their graves.
The piece makes particular use of the xylophone in a particular theme to imitate the sounds of rattling bones. Saint-Saëns uses a similar motif in the Fossils part of his Carnival of the Animals.
[edit] Instrumentation
Danse Macabre is scored for an obbligato violin, as well as the following orchestra:
[edit] 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!
[edit] Reception
When Danse Macabre first premiered, it was not received well.[citation needed] Audiences were quite unsettled by the disturbing, yet innovative,[dubious ] sounds that Saint-Saëns elicited. Shortly after the premiere, it was transcribed into a piano arrangement by Franz Liszt (S.555),[1] a good friend of Saint-Saëns, who recognized the genius of Danse Macabre and greeted it with much enthusiasm. 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, who also danced to "The Swan."[2]
[edit] Use in Soundtracks
Danse Macabre has been used as background music in many movies and television series, including:
- The audiobook of The Graveyard Book of Nail Gaiman uses Danse Macabre played by Béla Fleck as introductions of its chapters, and the song itself inspires one of the chapters of the book.
- The TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (in the mostly dialogue-free "Hush").
- The haunting theme tune to the British series Jonathan Creek.
- 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 French film Un long dimanche de fiançailles (known in English as A Very Long Engagement) starring Audrey Tautou.
- The American film Tombstone accompanying a stage production of the story of Faust.
- Shrek the Third, in several scenes including Prince Charming.
- The anime Princess Tutu, in AKT 24 as the background music for most part of the episode.
- The documentary The Road to Dracula, about the film Dracula with Béla Lugosi.
- A short piece of Danse Macabre was played on the Jimmy Neutron episode "The League of Villains", where the junkman was dancing with Beautiful Gorgeous.
- An accordion-based version is the soundtrack to the "Mr Tourette" sketches in the British animated comedy series Modern Toss.
- In the T.V. show Are You Afraid of the Dark?, a music box is heard to play this tune in the episode "The tale of the Twisted Claw".
- This song has also been used in Kim Yu-Na's 2008-2009 season Short program.
- The closing of the piece was used in Evil Dead II, when Bruce Campbell is sucked into the rift near the end.
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.
- In the Playstation game 102 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue, it is used at the carnival level.
- 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: Hedda Gabler plays it right before she kills herself.
- The second album of Esperanto Rock Orchestra "Danse Macabre" includes a cover. Arrangements Raymond Vincent & Tony Malisan
[edit] References
- ^ Salle, Michael (2004). Franz Liszt: A Guide to Research. New York: Routledge. p. 460. ISBN 04159401174.
- ^ Garafola, Lynn (2005). Legacies of Twentieth-century Dance. New York: Wesleyan University Press. pp. 155 - 156. ISBN 9780819566744.
[edit] External links
[edit] Sheet music
- Free sheet music from Cantorion.org
- Danse Macabre: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.
[edit] Audio
- MIDI file of Danse Macabre
- Recording of Danse Macabre on YouTube
