The Dance of Death

A special Halloween edition, brought to you by Saint-Saëns, Liszt, and Horowitz

Since it’s Halloween today, I would like to share the perfect piece for the occasion, even though I have never (and probably never will) celebrate it. Basically, I’m just using the spooky festival as an excuse to nerd out on one of my favourite pieces from the collaboration between Saint-Saëns, Liszt, and Horowitz.

The Theme of Danse Macabre

According to Wikipedia, Danse Macabre¹ is an artistic genre of allegory on the universality of death, how no one escapes the dance with death.

Danse Macabre consists of a personification of death, summoning representatives from all walks of life to dance along to the grave, typically with a pope, emperor, king, child, and labourer, to frivolous and terrifying effects. It was produced as memento mori, to remind people of the fragility of their lives and how vain are the glories of earthly life.

Saint-Saëns’ interpretation

Every year on Halloween, Death appears at midnight and summons the dead for their annual graveyard dance party. He would accompany them on his fiddle (represented by the solo violin) until the rooster crows at dawn and everyone has to return to their respective graves.

Liszt/Horowitz piano transcription

The original piece was written for orchestra by Saint-Saëns, but Liszt, as usual, came along and wrote a piano transcription of it (he certainly did not forget to make it immensely difficult). After that, Horowitz² also added his own touch to Liszt’s arrangement, hence all their names on the title.

The orchestral version is undoubtedly good, of course, but I prefer the piano version. Due the percussionistic nature of the instrument, the distinct notes really sound like the cracking of bones, making the melody extra spooky. When I was much younger I hoped to play it one day, but now I can tell it’s getting more and more unlikely :’)

0:00 - 0:55 Death starts the party

This piece starts off with 12 chimes of the same note to signal that midnight has just arrived.

Then, at 0:31, a sudden fog shrouded the entire cemetery as Death slowly came into view.

From 0:40 - 0:50, it feels like Death is warming up its skeleton fingers, and at last, bam! (0:50) He prises open the first tomb and wakes up the other skeletons.

The party has begun! Wake up folks, time to dance!

0:55 - 1:33 Getting ready, warming up

Notice the increasing intensity of the chords in this section.

0:55 The first batch of skeletons answered Death’s call as they march out of their graves.

Then, at 1:05 The chords became bigger, indicating that more and more skeletons slowly make their way to the main dancing ground.

1:12 The addition of bass chords increases the intensity. It sounds like more and more skeletons are out now, stomping on the ground, warming up, making their way to the main dance floor.

1:20 The last round of chords, now descending into the lower region of the piano, forming a stronger impression. Everyone’s finally here and ready.

1:34 The annual graveyard dance off starts

And then the main theme kicks in!

1:34 - 2:03 an introduction of the main theme. Different variations will be building on this theme for the rest of the piece. Some parts sound like bones cracking as the skeletons dance along.

Especially at 2:06, doesn’t it sound exactly like skeletons scuttling around?

2:23 The party is slowly hyping up. Think of it as a ‘beat drop’ as the main theme comes back stronger at 2:32

2:59 Love this cute little sketch! The descending chords starting from 3:08 are very cute too

3:16 Wait for it…

3:28 Here it is! Such a sick beat drop! This variation feels baroque/fugue-ish as more and more voices join in.

3:56 Ah yes, there we have Liszt. If you think everything so far seems pretty difficult, this section blows everything else out of the water. It’s time for Liszt to show off his virtuosity, and for us amateur pianists to stick up our white flags and surrender :’) You win, Liszt. I can’t play this.

4:30 The melody becomes hauntingly beautiful. Love the wisps of hope here. Maybe this is where the dead starts reminiscing the times when they were alive, the good old days; maybe they remembered some of their regrets, the losses, the what-ifs; maybe they are mourning the beauty of life, which they could only have some semblance of during Halloween, when they come out and dance.

4:53 Transition into another variation (an even more difficult one) of the slow theme.

Laced with many difficult techniques, the entire piece gets more intense as the dead continue to party enthusiastically throughout the night. In some sense, the different variations feel like different groups of dancers showcasing their solos.

5:05 Another scuttling of the bones

5:52 Love this! So dramatic!

6:20 Tension is building up again…

6:35 And it keeps on building…

7:02 The left hand is now playing the second part of the main theme (1:47) while the right hand is on the usual main theme. The merging of both themes adds so much tension and flavour.

7:20 Love this comical sketch, with a sinister touch!

7:33 The party is coming to an end

7:33 There is this sudden sense of urgency, as daybreak approaches. So everyone is trying to rush things up, running here and there. The dance slowly sinks into chaos.

7:46 The octave scales instantly paint the scene of the skeletons panicking, running back to their graves.

8:00 I love how the pianist sustains the remnants of the running scales as he played the rooster call. It felt like everyone froze mid-action as they heard the crowing of the rooster.

8:17 - 8:29 And then the remaining skeletons immediately snap back into action, fleeing back to their tombs before the first rays of light appear.

8:33 - 9:06 Such melancholic chords. Perhaps Death is playing this part? The big rolling chord at 8:53 is delicious

9:10 Cheeky final statement. Teasing the audience, trying to lure us into thinking that they might be continuing after all, but it’s actually speeding towards the end of the piece

9:20 The last chord sounds like the closing of the tomb. Good bye for now, until next year!

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Hope you enjoy the very informal ‘analysis’ of the piece! It is basically what I envision when listening to the piece. It is such a great piece of storytelling. The recording by Vassilis Varvaresos is what I think the best. The tempo is just nice (some people play it too fast, just to show off their techniques), and the distinct character of each variation is portrayed so well!

On the other hand, the orchestral version sounds entirely different. If anyone would like to compare the differences, here’s a fantastic recording: 

I love how each instrument plays the main theme separately and together afterwards. I also love the oboe playing the rooster’s call toward the end — the perfect instrument for such a role. It’s very different from the piano version, but equally mesmerizing. Instead of the piano, a marimba is used to portray the sound of bones cracking as the skeletons dance. The 12 chimes at the beginning are played by the harp instead. Love the violin solo and the woodwinds ❤️

It’s been fun listening to it again and writing about it. Hope you have a fun time with it too. Happy Halloween!

p/s: Saint-Saëns recycled this piece into section XII of the Carnival of Animals, where he also put in the tunes of ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’, making it extra fun:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danse_Macabre

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Horowitz, one of the greatest pianist of the 20th century.

Here’s Horowitz's performance of Danse Macabre.