Danse Macabre (arr Laurendeau)

From Wind Repertory Project
Camille Saint-Saëns

Camille Saint-Saëns (arr. Louis-Philippe Laurendeau)


Subtitle: Poëme Symphonique, op. 40


General Info

Year: 1874 / 1903
Duration:
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: LudwigMasters Publications
Cost: Score and Parts – $55.00

For additional availability information, see Discussion tab, above.


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet Solo-I-II
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
Eb Soprano Cornet
Cornets Solo-I-II-III
B-flat Tenor Horn
Horn in F I-II-III
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Snare Drum
  • Suspended Cymbal
  • Xylophone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Danse Macabre, Op. 40, is a tone poem for orchestra, written in 1874 by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns. It started out in 1872 as an art song for voice and piano with a French text by the poet Henri Cazalis, which is based on an old French superstition. In 1874, the composer expanded and reworked the piece into a tone poem, replacing the vocal line with a solo violin.

According to legend, "Death" appears at midnight every year on Halloween. Death calls forth the dead from their graves to dance for him while he plays his fiddle (here represented by a solo violin). His skeletons dance for him until the rooster crows at dawn, when they must return to their graves until the next year. The piece makes particular use of the xylophone to imitate the sounds of rattling bones. Saint-Saëns uses a similar motif in the Fossils movement of The Carnival of the Animals.

- Program Note from Wikipedia


Media

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State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • Sacramento (Calif.) Symphonic Winds (Leslie Lehr, conductor) - 19 October 2014


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources