Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Halloween

Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre Halloween Classic

I don’t care how stealthily one creeps through the graveyard at midnight. You won’t get through the Halloween season without encountering Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Danse Macabre.”

Saint-Saëns, born on this date in 1835, originally set Henri Cazalis’ poem – about the personification of Death summoning the departed from their graves to cut a rug until cockcrow – as a chanson, or art song, for voice and piano in 1872. Two years later, he expanded it, putting some flesh on its bones and crafting it into the beloved symphonic poem, which has been a staple of Halloween programs ever since.

Someone married the classic 1937 cartoon short “Skeleton Frolic” – pretty well, I think – to the orchestral version.

It’s also used effectively in this modern trailer for the 1922 silent classic “Häxan.”

And featured prominently in this scene from Jean Renoir’s 1939 film “Rules of the Game.”

Here it is, in its original version. José Van Dam sings it, with Jean-Philippe Collard at the piano.

That’s celebrating Saint-Saëns‘ birthday, with some rather “grave” thoughts! Bon anniversaire, mon vieux!

Translation of the text, 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 continues
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!

October 9, 2023
Paul Dukas Halloween Composer

How fortuitous that Paul Dukas would be born on October 1. What better way to start Halloween month than with the composer of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice?”

Though Dukas left a comparatively small output – he was a notorious perfectionist who destroyed much – what survives of his music is of very high quality. Of that, he lends to his Halloween street cred with two other works of a fantastical, potentially horrific nature: an opera about Bluebeard and his sixth wife, and a so-called dance poem, “La Péri,” about a fatal encounter with a Persian fairy.

The music is fantastic in more ways than one. Happy birthday, Paul Dukas!

“La Péri”

His Bluebeard opera, “Ariane et Barbe-Bleue”

Mickey learns that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing:

https://video.disney.com/watch/sorcerer-s-apprentice-fantasia-4ea9ebc01a74ea59a5867853?fbclid=IwAR1t2jcPyKB8UArn4ypRSY5Y_P7ogK9AnMjq4r2Dv1IaK8OUPAtoUtyl-4M

October 1, 2023
Happy Halloween My Musical Traditions

Happy Halloween!

Hard for me not to be on the air today. For me, so much of the best Halloween music is on the shorter side, and the most enjoyable playlist intersperses fairly brief tricks (3 to 6 minutes) with medium-length treats (15 to 20 minutes), and if I’m not spinning the platters for broadcast, I just won’t get to hear them. I’m not going to put on a three-minute piece of music for myself. So no Frederic Curzon “Dance of an Ostracised Imp,” no Thomas S. Allen “Dance of the Lunatics,” No Charles Ives “Hallowe’en.” I could go on.

At any rate, I hope you are able to find some musical enjoyment in your day. I’ll be finishing up reading some ghost stories and by mid-afternoon probably be stacking up the Halloween movies. I’ll listen to “A Faust Symphony” or something while doing my wildlife food deliveries, and I’ll be sure to get in a Halloween walk and a slice of pumpkin pie with my afternoon coffee. Mostly, I guess, I’ll be living the ideal Halloween in my head.

Surely it would include this:

October 31, 2022
French Halloween Music for a Spooky Night

On the whole the French don’t really celebrate Halloween (too American), but if you find one who does, don’t say “trick or treat.” Rather, demand “Des bonbons ou un sort!” – candy or a spell.

While France might not be down with the whole Halloween thing, many of the country’s great artists, writers, and composers could totally conjure a Halloween vibe. Think Odilon Redon’s “The Smiling Spider,” Charles Baudelaire’s “Les Fleurs du mal,” or Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Danse macabre.”

This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll have three pieces of French music totally suitable for the season.

Maurice Ravel’s “Gaspard de la Nuit” (“Gaspard of the Night”) – musical responses to the weird and sinister poetry of Aloysius Bertrand – is a suite of creepy impressions of (1) a flirtatious water spirit, (2) a hanged man at sunset against the backdrop of a tolling bell, and (3) a vampiric dwarf named Scarbo. Gina Bachauer will be the pianist, and Sir John Gielgud will preface each of the movements with recitations of the Bertrand poems.

Claude Debussy was enthralled by the writings of Edgar Allan Poe, which he knew through Baudelaire’s translations. At the time of his death, he left incomplete sketches for two operas after Poe stories – “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Devil in the Belfry.” We’ll hear fragments of the former, conducted by Georges Prêtre.

Finally, we’ll listen to the third of the “Etudes in Minor Keys,” subtitled “Scherzo Diabolico,” by Charles-Valentin Alkan. Alkan, a sometimes neighbor of Chopin and Georges Sand, shared a home with his illegitimate son, two apes, and a hundred cockatoos. Franz Liszt is alleged to have commented, “Alkan had the finest technique I had ever known, but preferred the life of a recluse.”

Best known is the story surrounding the circumstances of his death: while reaching for a copy of the Talmud, situated on a high shelf of a heavy bookcase, the case let go and crushed Alkan beneath it. It’s been suggested that the composer actually collapsed while in the kitchen – but when the legend becomes fact, print the legend. Tonight’s performance will be by the late Michael Ponti.

I hope you’ll join me for “Jacques o’ Lanterns” – lurid music by French composers for Halloween – this Sunday night at 10:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

If you enjoy either of my weekly shows (or both!), or any of the other music you hear on The Classical Network, please consider making a contribution today. We’re celebrating our 40th anniversary on the air and online, right now. If you’re in a position to do so, why not leave us a Halloween treat at wwfm.org. Thank you in advance for your generosity and for your continued support of WWFM The Classical Network!

https://wwwfm.secureallegiance.com/wwfm/WebModule/Donate.aspx?P=DEFAULT&PAGETYPE=PLG&CHECK=vOU2bz5JCWmgCDbf53nm9ezWDeZ%2beA1M

October 30, 2022
Classic Horror Film Scores and Halloween Fun

Whatever happened to my Transylvania twist?

This week on “Picture Perfect,” with Halloween just around a creepy corner, we’ll pull the blankets up under our noses, as Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, and the Wolfman headline an hour of creature features.

We’ll begin with arguably the best of the Frankenstein films, “The Bride of Frankenstein” (1935). Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, and Dwight Frye return. This time, they’re joined by batty and theatrical Ernest Thesiger, as Dr. Pretorius, and of course Elsa Lanchester. One of the greatest sequels ever made, “Bride” manages to deepen and expand elements of the original film, with plenty of atmosphere, a wry sense of humor, abundant pathos, and one of the finest film scores of the era, by Franz Waxman. Previously, Waxman was involved in the German film industry. Portions of his classic score were reused in any number of other Universal pictures over the years, including the Flash Gordon serials.

Of course, then came “Son of Frankenstein,” “The Ghost of Frankenstein,” “Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman”…

Four years before Abbott and Costello would meet Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula, and the Wolfman, all in the same film, Universal brought together its most popular creatures for “House of Frankenstein” (1944). This was the sixth film in the “Frankenstein” franchise, a follow-up to “The Ghost of Frankenstein,” but also a sequel of sorts to “Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman.” Here, Karloff graduates from monster to mad scientist, while Glenn Strange dons the make-up and neck-bolts as “the creature,” John Carradine plays the Count, Lon Chaney Jr. returns in his signature role as Lawrence Talbot (a.k.a. the Wolfman), and J. Carrol Naish portrays Karloff’s hunchback assistant.

The wackadoodle plot involves Karloff and Naish running a traveling horror show. The doctor revives Dracula for his own nefarious purposes; then later in the film thaws Frankenstein’s monster and the Wolfman from frozen waters. It may not be the best of the Universal Pictures Frankenstein films, but it is undoubtedly entertaining, and good, monster-laden fun. The music is also the result of a monster team-up, of sorts, co-composed by Hans J. Salter and Paul Dessau. The popularity of the multi-monster format ensured yet other follow-ups in “House of Dracula” and “Abbott Costello Meet Frankenstein.”

Decades later, Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder looked back with affection to the series, when they came to make their horror parody, “Young Frankenstein” (1974). The result is Brooks’ richest comedy. The love of detail extends even to the use of some of the authentic laboratory equipment from the original movies. Composer John Morris’ score reflects the underlying pathos of the monster, in brilliant counterpoint to the onscreen comedy.

Finally, director Francis Ford Coppola also looked back with affection to earlier classics when he undertook “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992). “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” is the NAME of the film. Despite some intriguing elements, it’s doubtful the author would have recognized his creation in Coppola’s cinematic counterpart. Why can’t anyone figure out how to just film the book? The strongest elements of this version include the opulent costume design, the self-consciously retro special effects, the geek references to classic and foreign films, and the spooky music by Polish composer Woijech Kilar. Kilar was an inspired choice, as he provides just the right Eastern European feel.

All in all, I think you’ll agree, it’s the perfect mix-tape for drafty dungeons and misty moors. I hope you’ll join me for “Monster Mash” on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org!

If you enjoy either of my weekly shows (or both!), or any of the other music you hear on The Classical Network, please consider making a contribution today. We’re celebrating our 40th anniversary on the air and online, right now. If you’re in a position to do so, leave us a Halloween treat at wwfm.org. Thank you for your continued support of WWFM The Classical Network!

https://wwwfm.secureallegiance.com/wwfm/WebModule/Donate.aspx?P=DEFAULT&PAGETYPE=PLG&CHECK=vOU2bz5JCWmgCDbf53nm9ezWDeZ%2beA1M

October 29, 2022

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