Danse Macabre: Art & Organization!
text organization, poetry, analysis, and art!
Danse Macabre
The orchestral piece ‘Danse Macabre’ is composed by the French composer Saint-Saens. It describes gruesome happenings in a graveyard on the night of Halloween.
Danse Macabre by Henri Cazalis
On a sounding stone
With a blanched thigh-bone
The bone of a saint, I fear;
Death strikes the hour
Of his Wizard power
And the specters make haste to appear.
From their tombs they rise
In their deathly guise
Obeying the summons dread.
And gathering round
With reverence profound
They salute the King of the Dead.
Then he stands in the middle
And tunes up his fiddle
And plays them a gruesome strain.
And each gibbering wight
In the moon’s pale light
Music dance to that wild refrain.
Now the fiddle tells
As the music swells
Of the graveyard’s ghastly pleasures.
And they clatter their bones
As with hideous groans
They reel to those maddening measures.
The churchyard quakes.
And the old abbey shakes
To the tread of that midnight host.
And the sod turns black
On each circling track
Where a skeleton whirls with a ghost.
The night wind moans
In shuddering tones
Through the gloom of the cypress tree.
While the mad mob raves
Over yawning graves
And the fiddle bow leaps with glee
So the swift hours fly
‘Til the reddening sky
Gives warning of daylight near.
Then the first rooster crow
Sends them scurrying below
To sleep for another year.
Your Assignment
1. The piece starts with the church clock chiming midnight. Which instrument plays the chimes? a) clarinet b) trumpet c) harp
2. Next, the devil creeps into the graveyard. Which string instruments are used for this creeping?
What is special about the way it is played?
3. Which string instrument suddenly plays loudly?
Which part of the poem is this meant to sound like?
4. Next, the ghosts and skeletons begin to appear as a mysterious tune is played. Which woodwind instrument plays this tune?
5. Which solo instrument is heard playing a tune next?
6. Which percussion instrument is used to sound like skeleton bones rattling?
7. During the piece does the music
a) stay quiet b) stay loud. c) get louder and quieter
8. Saint-Saens uses more and more instruments as the piece goes on. Do you think this means
a) There are less skeletons as the piece goes on;
b) There are more skeletons as the piece goes on;
c) There are the same number dancing throughout?
9. Where is the loudest music heard?
a) beginning b) middle c) end
10. It is morning and the loud instruments suddenly stop as the cock crow is heard. Which instrument plays the cock crow? a) flute. b) oboe. c) trumpet
11. All the ghosts and skeletons have returned to their graves. The devil plays a final tune on his violin. Is this tune a) fast. b) medium. b) slow?
12. Draw your own picture of the graveyard scene OR compose a poem about other ghostly happenings.
Danse Macabre
Zig-a-zig-a-zig – it’s the rhythm of death!
His heels tap the tomb-stones as he tunes his violin.
Death at midnight, playing a dance tune –
Zig-a-zig-a-zig on his violin.
The winter wind whistles and the night is dark;
The winter wind whistles and the lime trees moan.
Weird, white skeletons streak across the shadows;
Running and leaping, wrapped in their shrouds.
Zig-a-zig-a-zig – the dance grows even wilder:
Resources!
Dream of a Witches Sabbath
The Artist sees himself in the midst of a ghastly crowd of sorcerers and monsters assembled for his funeral. The air is filled with strange groans, bursts of laughter, shouts and echoes. Suddenly, the Artist's beloved appears as a witch.
A vast church bell begins to chime the peal of death. Bassoons and tubas bark out the the traditional funeral chant. The orchestra divides into teams to enact a sinister ritual.
The groaning theme from the beginning of the movement transforms into a merry black Sabbath dance. Berlioz chose the fugue to represent his vision of hell.
The music whips into a frenzy as it bears the soul of the Artist to his damnation. His beloved gloats over the scene. Such an ending had never been heard before.
At the conclusion of this second premiere, the audience erupted in applause. Harriet Smithson finally understood that Symphonie fantastique was about her. She agreed to receive Berlioz.
With Symphonie fantastique, Berlioz stepped into his artistic maturity. The lovesick teenager had become the Artist who had won the heart of his fixation.