K. Saint-Saens "Dance of Death": history, video, content, interesting facts

Camille Saint-Saens "Dance of Death"

The question of life and death from ancient times worried people. Is there life after death, and what awaits a man when his days are numbered - that’s two secrets covered in fog and gloom. Many artists turned to the gloomy image. Franz Liszt, I. V. Goethe, Hector Berlioz, Mussorgsky. In the work of Camille Saint-Saens, the infernal character was embodied in the symphonic poem "The Dance of Death". You can learn the history of the composition of the work, get acquainted with interesting facts, listen to music, as well as study the musical characteristics on our page.

History of creation

As the composer himself said, “Liszt's symphonic poems led me to the road, following which I was able to compose The Dance of Death and other works.” In 1873, the musician turns to a miniature poem by the poet Henri Cazalis. The literary work dedicated to Death, which makes people equal among themselves, made a strong impression on the musician. Not postponing the composition indefinitely, Camille writes a romance based on poetry. A year has passed, and the thought of the work did not leave Saint-Saens. He decided to compose a symphonic poem on such a gloomy topic. The work went very quickly and soon the poem was completely finished.

In 1875, January 24, the long-awaited premiere of the composition took place. The conductor was French conductor and violinist Edouard Colonne. The presentation of the new symphonic work was held in the framework of Sunday concerts Colonna. The conductor actively promoted new French music, he rented a large Odeon theater in Paris for premiere evenings and assembled his own orchestra. The hall was filled, the work was accepted to “Hurray!”, At the request of the listeners it was repeated for an encore. It signified success.

More than a year passed when the work was re-performed. The reaction was the opposite, the essay failed. There were negative reviews. Not spared the discussion and members of the Mighty Heap. Mussorgsky and Stasov spoke especially sharply; Rimsky-Korsakov and Cui were opposed to them.

Subsequently, the anger was again replaced by mercy, and the work was willingly performed by the best conductors of the world. Especially skillfully conducted by the author himself. Today, the "Dance of Death" is often performed by world-famous orchestras, and the work is recognized as a masterpiece of classical music.

Interesting Facts

• The transcription of the work for piano was created by Kramer.
• In Holland, in the National Amusement Park you can hear the "Dance of Death" by Camille Saint-Saens.
• In 1876, Franz Liszt highly appreciated the work of Saint-Saens, created a piano transcription of the work and sent notes to the composer, thereby showing respect and recognition.
• Death's Dance is an allegory of the equality of people in the face of Death, which appeared in the poetry of the Middle Ages.
• There is a transcription for organ created by musician Edwin Lemare.
• For all his life, Camille Saint-Saens composed 4 symphonic poems.
• The poem was dedicated to the talented pianist Caroline Montigny-Remori. She was close to Camille Saint-Saens in spirit, quite often he called her dear sister. Correspondence with Caroline began in 1875 and lasted for more than forty years.
• The music of Camille Sens-Saens inspired the famous writer Neil Gaiman to create the popular novel The Book of the Cemetery.
• Franz Liszt also turned to this story and composed a work on the theme “The Last Judgment” for piano performance with an orchestra. Many critics compared it in the future with the work of Saint-Saens.
• As a literary source, the composer used the poem of a fairly well-known cultural figure, Henri Cazalis, who often signed his own works with another name Jean Lagor. Now the literary work is called "Dance of Death." At the time of the composer, the poem had the more ironic title Equality and Brotherhood.
• The symphonic poem was often used as musical accompaniment in the dance performances of Anna Pavlova.
• Initially, the composer wrote a romance for a poem, a year later a symphonic poem was written.

Content

According to legend, Death appears every Halloween at midnight. She calls the dead from their graves to dance for her to the sound of the violin on which she plays. Skeletons dance for her until the rooster screams at dawn. Then they must return to their graves by next year.

A piece of music opens with a harp, playing one note, twelve times. The sound of the harp personifies twelve beats of the clock at midnight. Accompanied by the decorating instrument with soft chords of strings. The first violin begins to play the triton, which was known as "The Devil in Music", during the Middle Ages and Baroque. To create a similar acoustic effect, you must tune the first and second strings of the violinist not to a fifth, as the classical performance requires, but to a triton. The first theme is assigned to the flute, the second theme is the descending scale - this is a violin solo accompanied by soft chords of strings. The waltz rhythm entrusted to the low strings and the xylophone creates support, the dance of the dead begins. Gradually, the composer introduces a fugato, personifying the infernal, afterworld.

The appearance of a major marks the beginning of the middle section of the poem. The music becomes more energetic and in its middle, immediately after the developmental section based on the second theme, a direct quote appears - Dies irae. The Gregorian chant, which marks the Last Judgment, is played by woodwind instruments. Dies irae presented unusually, in the main key. After this section, the play returns to the first and second themes, the thematic development leads to a climax - the height of the feast of the dead. The stubborn preservation of the waltz rhythm symbolizes that the festivities continue. But suddenly the full sound whirl of the orchestra ends abruptly, and in the code representing the dawn you can hear the cock singing, which is played by the oboe. The holiday is over, ordinary life begins, and the skeletons return to their graves.

The writing has a special musical color. Many effects have been achieved through professional orchestration. So, it was possible to achieve the sound of rattling bones through the use of a xylophone, which was a rarity for the orchestra. The use of drums in combination with strings and harp creates a special mystical atmosphere.

The use of music in the cinema

• Monsters City (2015)
• Resident of the Damned (2014)
• Nostalgic critic (2013)
• Ghosts of the House of Whaley (2012)
• Time Keeper (2011)
• Amazing (2008)
• Shrek 3 (2007)
• Twelve Years (2005)
• The Last Dance (2002)
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1999)
• Jonathan Creek (1998)
• Tombstone: The Legend of the Wild West (1993)

"The Dance of Death" by Camille Saint-Saens is an amazing symphonic poem with amazing sound performance and colorful. Music has become a real discovery for the XIX century and continues to amaze lovers of the classics to this day.