‘Danse Macabre’ offers suitably eerie composition just in time for Halloween

Making an appearance on Halloween night, the grim reaper hovers over, directing fate, waiting to strike again. “Danse Macabre,” otherwise known as the dance of death, follows the story of how once a year on Halloween, death comes out and calls to the spirits and ghosts to rise from the grave and dance for him as he plays his fiddle. 

“Danse Macabre” has been performed twice locally, both by school orchestra teacher and local orchestra director, Yukiko Grine. Grine’s first performance came in 2022, with the Oshkosh Youth Symphony Orchestra.  She returned for a second go around, leading the West Symphony Orchestra on October 24, 2023. 

The solo violin acts as the main attraction of the piece, as they are death itself calling forth with their powerful aura and harsh notes. The skeletons dance until dawn when they must return to their graves. “Danse Macabre” isn’t the normal, boring classical song people believe them to be. It has fun and gut-wrenching notes and storylines. The composer, piano child prodigy, Camille Saint-Saëns, was born October 9, 1835 - no doubt a spooky kinda guy.

Exploring other famous works in remembrance of composer Saint-Saëns yields “The Carnival of the Animals.” Just like all composers, there is a story behind this piece. “Carnival” is a comedic musical suite that was written for a bit of light relief after the composer returned from a not-so-great concert tour. Another famous work is “Symphony No. 3,” which was completed in the peak of Saint-Saëns artistic career in 1886. This symphony is often referred to as the Organ Symphony, due to its contradiction to regularity for late-Romantic symphony. Saint-Saëns wrote this piece as a solo for a pipe organ many times throughout the score.

“Danse Macabre” is an amazing piece that has such passion and is the perfect song to leave listeners with chills.

by Ashley Schumann

Published October 30 2023

Oshkosh West Index Volume 120 Issue II