Danse macabre

Camille Saint-Saëns' Danse macabre, Opus 40, in G minor, is a tone-poem for orchestra written in 1874. Saint-Saëns originally wrote the piece in 1872 as an art-song for voice and piano, with a French text by the poet Henri Cazalis based on an old French superstition. In the tone-poem version, the vocal line of the song is replaced with a solo violin. When Danse macabre was first performed it was not well received. It has been used in various movies, television shows, and video games.

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 - 1921) was a prominent French composer, organist, and pianist. A child prodigy, he is now remembered for The Carnival of the Animals suite, the Samson and Delilah opera, the Symphony #3 (Organ Symphony), the first violin-sonata, and various concertos.

Tutorial

• Part 1

• Part 2

• Part 3

Sheetmusic on imslp