Danse Macabre

Danse macabre was tone poem for orchestra written by Saint-Saëns in 1874. 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 (a solo violin in the original). His skeletons dance for him until the rooster crows at dawn, when they must return to their graves until the next year.

Instrumentation:

• Trumpet 1 in E♭ (Doubles on B♭ Piccolo)
• Trumpet 2 in E♭
• Trumpet 3 & 4 in B♭ (Doubles on Flugelhorn)
• 2 Horns
• Trombone
• Bass Trombone
• Euphonium
• 2 Tubas
• Timpani
• Percussion – Harp (or Synthesizer), Crash Cymbals, Triangle, Xylophone, Bass Drum