Danse Macabre: Classical Music For Halloween
/Camille Saint-Saëns is well known for his vivid storytelling through music and has left us with an unequivocal masterpiece for spooky classical music. Saint-Saëns wrote this tone poem after a French legend that Death appears at midnight every Halloween, calls the dead out from their graves, and dances with them as he plays the violin. Listen for the twelve notes on the harp at the very beginning signifying the arrival of midnight. Death begins to play and calls out the skeletons with a double-stop on the violin. A double-stop is when two notes are played on a string instrument at the same time. This eerie interval is called a tri-tone and at times throughout history, has even been outlawed. Once the main melody starts, listen for the chromatic descending notes. Composers know that this is a way to represent death or doom and is commonly used. Later, you will be able to hear the bones of the skeletons knocking together, and, finally, the rooster crows, the sun rises, and all is put back to order for another year.