YouTube を日本語で表示

Camille Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre

Get the latest Flash player

DistantMirrors
March 14, 2008

Danse Macabre (first performed in 1875) is the name of opus 40 by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. The composition is based upon a poem by Henri Cazalis, on an old French superstition: Zig...

Danse Macabre (first performed in 1875) is the name of opus 40 by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns.

The composition is based upon a poem by Henri Cazalis, on an old French superstition: 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— But hist! of a sudden they quit the round, They push forward, they fly; the cock has crowed.

According to the ancient 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") 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.
[from Wikipedia]

Artwork:Remedios Varo,"Les Feuilles Mortes".
Played by:National Philharmonic Orchestra,
conductor:Leopold Stokowski.

Category: Music

Tags:

More From: DistantMirrors

Play All Stop Autoplaying | Play Next

QuickList(0)

Clear | Save

Statistics & Data

Text Comments (691) Options

ogden22 (43 minutes ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

we lisened to this at school in a music lesson. and i loved it :D the teacher had massive speakers and she played it really loud. it was awesome :D five stars *****

LaZitrone (18 hours ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

Spooky! Reminds me of candy and death.
Well... I´m afraid everything reminds me of candy... and death.

eendenhoofd (19 hours ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

I meant the PAINTING enlightened one

jkmarshall001 (23 hours ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

Not a very good performance/arrangement at all.

nubapowner5000 (1 day ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

it says it right in the title smart one.

Myumeful (1 day ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

EFTELING XD

anneke637 (1 day ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

wahahahaha spookslot

DavidMPetty (1 day ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

Danse Macabre...Saint Saëns

eendenhoofd (1 day ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

love this song,
love the painting,
does anyone know what it's called and who's the creator?

weedybix (2 days ago) Show Hide

Marked as spam

no Ireland is awesome!!! ;D

Showing 10 of 691 comments

Show More Comments

View All 691 comments

Would you like to comment?

Join YouTube for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.

YouTube	Programs	Help	Policy	Discover
Contact Us	Advertising	Get Help	Privacy Policy	YouTube on Your Phone
YouTube Store	Developers	YouTube Handbook	Terms of Service	YouTube on Your Site
Press Room	Partnerships	Community Help Forums	Copyright Notices	YouTube on Your TV
Business Blog	Content Management	Safety Center	Community Guidelines	YouTube RSS Feeds
YouTube Blog		Creator's Corner		TestTube

Add YouTube to your Google homepage

Current Location: Japan Show locations

Camille Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre

More From: DistantMirrors

QuickList(0)

Related Videos

Statistics & Data

Video Responses (6)

Text Comments (691) Options

Would you like to comment?