Danse Macabre (tr Hindsley)

Camille Saint-Saëns

Camille Saint-Saëns (trans. Mark Hindsley)

General Info

Year: 1874 / 197-?
Duration: c. 7:35
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Orchestra
Publisher: Hindsley Transcriptions
Cost: Score and Parts - $88.00 | Score Only - $19.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Cornet I-I-IIII
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Harp
Timpani
Percussion, including:

Bass Drum
Chimes
Crash Cymbals
Marimba
Triangle
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

Commercial Discography

Audio CD: University of Illinois Concert Band (Mark Hindsley, conductor)- 1999

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown

State Ratings

Florida: V
Louisiana: V
Minnesota: I
South Carolina: V
Tennessee: V
Virginia: V

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Metropolitan Wind Symphony (Lexington, Mass.) (Richard Wyman, conductor) – 27 October 2019
University of Iowa (Iowa City) Symphony Band (Richard Mark Heidel, conductor)– 16 November 2017
Los Alamos (N.M.) Community Winds (Ted Vives, conductor) – 24 October 2015
Callanwolde Concert Band (Atlanta, Ga.) (Scott Files, conductor) - 26 October 2014

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

Le Carnaval des Animaux (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Onodera) (1886/2018)

All Wind Works

Aquarium (arr. Moore) (1886/2011)
Bacchanale (arr. Balent) (1877/2002)
Bacchanale (arr. Egner) (1877/1926)
Bacchanale (arr. Hubbell) (1877/1991)
Bacchanale from "Samson and Delila" (arr. Hanna) (1877/)
Carnival of the Animals (arr. Brand)
The Carnival of the Animals (arr. Bocook) (1886/2006)
The Carnival of the Animals (arr. Curnow) (1886/2008)
Carnival of the Animals, The (arr. Goto). See Le Carnaval des Animaux
Chorale for Wind Band and Melodic Percussion (arr. Giroux) (2015)
Danse Bacchanale (arr. Steiger) (1877/1985)
Danse Bacchanale (arr. Bocook) (1877/2004)
Danse Bacchanale (arr. Singleton) (1877/)
Danse Macabre (arr. Bender)
Danse Macabre (tr Hindsley) (tr. Hindsley) (1874/197-?)
Danse Macabre (arr. Laurendeau) (1874/1903)
Danse Macabre (arr. Brian Sheldon) (1874/)
Danse Macabre (arr. Slawson) (1874/2013)
Part One, "Organ Symphony" (no. 3 (tr. Hindsley) (1886/197-?)
Finale, Symphony No 3 in C (arr. Slocum) (1886/1974)
Finale to "Hail! California" (ed. Martin) (1915/2015)
Finale from "Symphony No. 3" (arr. VanDoren) (1886/2022)
First Movement, "Organ Symphony" (no. 3) (tr. Hindsley) (1886/197-?)
Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (arr. Kessler)
La Princesse Jaune (arr. Odom) (1872/1980)
La Princesse Jaune (arr. Lake) (1872/1929)
La Princesse Jaune (arr. Schyns) (1872/2002)
Le Carnaval des Animaux (arr. Goto) (1886/2000/2012)
Le Carnaval des Animaux (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Onodera) (1886/2018)
March-Scherzo (arr. Marcus) (1853/2015)
Marche Dédiée aux Étudiants d'Alger (orch. Bouchel) (1921/1925)
Marche Heroïque (arr. Winterbottom) (1871/1906)
Marche Interalliée (orch. Balay) (1918/2014)
Marche Militaire Francaise (tr. Hindsley) (1908/1958)
Marche Militaire Francaise (arr. Lake) (1908/1913)
Mon Coeur s'ouvre à ta voix (tr. Niese) (1877/2012)
Morceau de Concert (arr. Respresas Carrera) (1887/2013)
Morceau de Concert (tr. Nelson) (1887/1979)
Orient et Occident (ed. Whitwell) (1869)
Orient et Occident (arr. Hauswirth) (1869)
Orient et Occident (ed. Reynish) (1869/1995)
Orient et Occident (arr. Schissel) (1869/2005)
Pas Redoublé (arr. Frackenpohl) (1870/1972)
Prelude and Processional (arr. Elkus) (1883/1957)
Second Movement, "Organ Symphony" (no. 3) (tr. Hindsley) (1886/200-?)
Sur les bords du Nil (ed. Hauswirth) (1908/2019)
Theme from "Samson and Delilah" (arr. Davis) (1877/1964)
Vers la Victoire (orch. Dondeyne) (1918/2014)

Resources

Saint-Saëns, C.; Oyen, E.; Hindsley, M. [197-?]. Danse Macabre [score]. [Concert Band Transcriptions]: [Urbana, Ill.]
Danse Macabre (Saint-Saens), Wikipedia