Danse Macabre

Funny Buffy scene from Hush.

Danse Macabre, by Camille Saint-Saëns

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 

(here represented by a solo violin). 

His skeletons dance for him 

until the rooster crows at dawn, 

when they must return to their 

graves until the next year.

The piece opens with a harp playing a single note, D, twelve times (the twelve strokes of midnight) which is accompanied by soft chords from the string section. 

The solo violin enters playing the tritone, which was known as the diabolus in musica ("the Devil in Music") during the Medieval and Baroque eras, consisting of an A and an E♭—

in an example of scordatura tuning, 

the violinist's E string has actually been tuned down to an E♭ 

to create the dissonant tritone.

The first theme is heard on a solo flute, followed by the second theme, 

a descending scale on the solo violin which is accompanied by soft chords from the string section.

The first and second themes, or fragments of them, are then heard throughout the various sections of the orchestra. 

The piece becomes more energetic and at its midpoint, 

right after a contrapuntal section based on the second theme, 

there is a direct quote  

played by the woodwinds 

of Dies Irae, a Gregorian chant 

from the Requiem Mass that is 

melodically related to the work's second theme. 

The Dies Irae is presented unusually in a major key. 

After this section the piece returns to 

the first and second themes and 

climaxes with the full orchestra playing very strong dynamics. 

Then there is an abrupt break in the texture 

and the coda represents The Dawn breaking (a cockerel's crow, 

played by the oboe) and the skeletons returning to their graves.

The piece makes particular use of 

the xylophone to imitate 

the sounds of rattling bones. 

Saint-Saëns uses a similar motif in 

the Fossils movement of 

The Carnival of the Animals.

The progression and melody of the 

minor waltz are similar to the jibes (e.g. "their sweethearts all are dead") of the Sailors' Chorus in 

"Helmsman/Steersman, 

Leave Your Watch," 

which begins the third act of Wagner's earlier opera, 

"The Flying Dutchman".

Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) - 

The Danse Macabre Scene

Lucy Westernra walks through 

the main square of Wismar 

among the plague-afflicted. 

Some dance, while other dine outside, 

resigned to Their Fate.

HH.

The Name of God

in Arabic is 

“Allah”

‘Al’ means ‘The’, and

‘All’ means ‘The Very’,

so The Name of God ,

which is also a Prayer, is :

“The Very HH.”

The Magic Word Is “Ha.”,

and “Ha.” spelt backwards 

is “Ah!”