La Danse Macabre, also called
Dance of death, La Danza Macabra, or
Totentanz, is a
late-medieval[?] allegory on the universality of
death.
La Danse Macabre consists of the personified Death leading row of dancing figures from all walks of life to the
grave - typically with an
emperor, king, pope, monk, youngster, beautiful girl, all in
skeleton-state; the best-known
Danses Macabres are frescos in
French and
German churches. They were produced under the impact of the
Black Death, that reminded people of how fragile their lives were and how vain the glories of
earthly life[?] were. See also
memento mori[?] and
vanitas[?].
Danse Macabre is the name of Opus 40 by Camille Saint-Saëns, written in 1874. The piece is a tone poem, depicting a skeleton playing the violin in a graveyard as his deceased companions dance around the graves. The piece makes particular use of the xylophone to imitate the sounds of rattling bones.
Danse Macabre is a nonfiction book by Stephen King on horror fiction and United States pop culture. Examining influences on his writing, it focuses on films and novels of the genre from a fan's perspective, discussing archetypes, narrative devices, and "the psychology of terror."
Danse Macabre is an album by The Faint.
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