Song of the Day 10/31: Camille Saint-Saëns, “La Danse Macabre”

Filed in Arts and Entertainment by on October 31, 2024 7 Comments

Camille Saint-Saëns was one of the most famous and prolific composers of his day, and his serious works are part of the classical canon, but he’s best known to the general public for this short tone poem. He composed the theme in 1872 as a piano piece to accompany a poem called “Égalité, Fraternité” by his friend Henri Cazalis before expanding it into the more familiar orchestral version.

“La Danse Macabre,” the legend of the dead emerging from their graves on All Hallows’ Eve, dates back to medieval times (the detail of Death playing the fiddle came later). In its traditional form, Death is portrayed as the great equalizer, coming to kings and popes as well as commoners. Cazalis being French, he gives the tradition a carnal interpretation, as a baroness’ skeleton dances with – quelle horreur! – a common workman’s, before the cock crows at dawn and the dead return to their tombs.

The expanded composition, minus the lyrics, debuted two years later. Death begins playing at the stroke of midnight, signified by 12 notes plucked on the harp, and the music gains intensity until the oboe, portraying a rather melodious rooster, brings an end to the celebration. The piece wasn’t immediately popular – early audiences found it unsettling, and critics weren’t crazy about its reliance on the xylophone to imitate the rattling of skeleton bones. When Death takes up his bow at midnight tonight, those critics will all stay in their graves.

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  1. puck says:

    Here’s another one for your Halloween playlist: “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road” from the newest Marvel series “Agatha All Along.” It’s from the Scarlet Witch corner of the Marvel Universe. The song is performed by the cast, which includes Patti LuPone, and is very good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnjYeJ5blxo

  2. How is it that I’ve never heard this before? This rules!

  3. nathan arizona says:

    Saint-Saens! You must be one of those highbrow longhairs (as they were called before the hippies). I do prefer the orchestra version. Actually, I also prefer something a little less bombastic. But nice Halloween choice.

  4. nathan arizona says:

    This better known piece works too, in the bombastic category. Of course Wagner is kind of scary even without the music, But it’s not his fault that Hitler liked it. Speaking of fascists, I don’t imagine Trump has ever heard it. It would only confuse him anyway. And I think it might scare any Vietnamese who saw “Apocalypse Now.”

    https://youtu.be/PSuRJueqsQg?si=Zpi3SYAAt23tZui6

    Here’s the movie version, with bombs. Actually, this is probably the scariest version of all.

    https://youtu.be/30QzJKCUekQ?si=swEEA1Z4Ig18MVXu

    • Alby says:

      Actually, it is kind of his fault Hitler liked it. Saint-Saëns championed Wagner at first but turned against him because of Wagner’s fervent German nationalism – which was the reason he appealed to Hitler.

  5. Alby says:

    I tried to find when Death/the Devil took up the fiddle – before it was invented in the 1500s I guess he had to play the lyre. The earliest reference I could find was 18th-century Italian composer Giuseppe Tartini, who wrote a violin sonata he dubbed The Devil’s Trill after waking from a dream of the Devil playing it. He later said it was only a shadow of what he heard the Devil play in his dream.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR6KJL5OS54

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