31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN (DAY 12)

I totally snubbed Saint-Saëns this week on his birthday, October 9th, so here’s “Danse Macabre.” “Danse Macabre” was originally conceived as a chanson for voice and piano. The composer made several other arrangements. Most famous is the more fully developed orchestral work, but he also wrote a version for voice and orchestra. Here it is performed by Nelson Eddy, of all people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIVdUOnNWKM

Still, it’s better than Nelson’s commercial recording from two years earlier, which is terrifying for all the wrong reasons.

The text is by Henri Cazalis:

Zig, zig, zig, Death in cadence
Striking a tomb with his heel
Death at midnight plays a dance-tune
Zig, zig, zag, on his violin
The winter wind blows, and the night is dark;
Moans are heard in the linden trees
White skeletons pass through the gloom
Running and leaping in their shrouds
Zig, zig, zig, each one is frisking
You can hear the cracking of the bones of the dancers
A lustful couple sits on the moss
So as to taste long lost delights
Zig zig, zig, Death contines
The unending scraping on his instrument
A veil has fallen! The dancer is naked
Her partner grasps her amorously
The lady, it’s said, is a marchioness or baroness
And her green gallant, a poor cartwright
Horror! Look how she gives herself to him
Like the rustic was a baron
Zig, zig, zig. What a saraband!
They all hold hands and dance in circles
Zig, zig, zag. You can see in the crowd
The king dancing among the peasants
But hist! All of a sudden, they leave the dance
They push forward, they fly; the cock has crowed
Oh what a beautiful night for the poor world!
Long live death and equality!