Imagine you were asked to compose, perform, or select a piece for Halloween.
What mood would you want?
What instrument(s) best portray that mood?
What classical pieces come to mind?
For this special occasion, we chose - Danse Macabre
Danse macabre is based on medieval folklore and the idea that Death appears at midnight on Halloween to call the dead from their graves to dance for him. The violin represents Death, and the piece is a tone poem for solo violin and orchestra.
Danse Macabre was written by Saint Saens - French - Romantic
There are a myriad of different versions of this piece, which has become the classical “anthem” for Halloween!
#1. David Garrett - Danse Macabre (by Saint-Saëns) (Official Music Video) - 3:01
#2. Saint-Saëns: Danse macabre, Op. 40 (with Score) 7:00
Notice the scordatura tuning for the solo violin - In Danse macabre, the solo violin’s E string is tuned down to an E-flat to create a dissonant tritone.
Elements found in the performance below:
- Imitation
- Contrapuntal section - a bit like a fugue subject and answer
- All families of the orchestra
- Program music
- Featuring pitched percussion: Xylophone, vibraphone, marimba, orchestral bells
#3. Polish Nationwide Music Schools’ Symphonic Orchestras Competition 2014 - 8:21
For more information about the four pitched percussion instruments, here is a helpful article:
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Further notes on where the Halloween mood comes from in Danse Macabre. The tonal centre is a bit vague. It tends to be G minor, as soon as the annoying perfect 5th/tritone dance ends. The 5th/tritone thing kind of is just a D9- chord without 3rd and 7th, but resolving nevertheless in Gm. But then comes the Fm7 chord, which blows away the feel of Gm being the tonic. The tonal centre remains vague.
Next note. In 3/4 time, there almost always is a feel of 6/4 time. The measures come in pairs, with the stronger and the weaker. Just watch your feet, when you’re dancing a waltz. But here, the two alternating main themes switch the stronger and the weaker measure, like the first theme being one measure too long and the second theme being one measure too short. If you dance, you will feel the switch. If you only listen, the switch is there, you may not notice it, but it gives a feeling of unease, someone pulling the carpet under your feet.
I mentioned in the Zoom meeting that the youth orchestra version wasn’t as scary as the solo violin version. Four mallet instruments just can’t create the same expression of fear as a solo violin can. But they gave something different. The music became cuter. They were focused on playing together with perfect timing. It was more like Danny Elfman’s Nightmare Before Christmas. A hint of scaryness, but after all very cute.
Hello Johan - What interesting observations you have made about Danse Macabre. I love these discussions that prod us to look deeper, listen carefully and generate ideas!
To me, the Fm7 chord doesn’t weaken the tonality of Gm, but rather enhances it and gives it a more ancient feel, harking back to the pre-Bach days when the Danse Macabre legends began. The subtonic, rather than the leading tone, has always been very satisfying to my ear, and making it minor rather than the normal major adds a rich harmonic twist, without negating the Gm. Interesting how we hear that differently, isn’t it?
I guess the pitched percussion version appeals to me more because of all the associations of skeletons dancing. Those four instruments - xylophone, vibraphone, marimba and glockenspiel - are superb for creating the sound of rattling bones! I didn’t really think either version was very scary, just good fun. I really enjoyed watching those young people so intent on their instruments - one of the percussionists in particular looked like he was getting a good workout!!
