Spooky Sounds

I cannot wait for MSO's first concert of the season, October 28th and 29th, because it's all spooky music. We are playing six of the greatest "spooky" pieces and I am so excited for each one. Here's a breakdown of each of them.

I cannot think of Danse Macabre without thinking of Do, Re, Mi, Po, which nobody but my sisters will understand. Also I can't find a clip of it on youtube so it doesn't matter. Anyway, Danse Macabre began as a song/poem with piano until Saint-Saens reworked it. If you are interested, here is the poem.

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!

Very chilling. Eventually it was reorchestrated for full-orchestra. The tri-tones are very reminiscent of the Devil and his minions. According to the legend, "Death" appears at midnight every year on Halloween. He calls forth the dead from their graves to dance their dance of death for him while he plays the fiddle. His skeletons dance for him until the rooster crows at dawn, when they must return to their graves for another year. It's an incredible piece.

Two of our pieces are by Modest Mussorgsky. Night on Bald Mountain, like all of Mussorgsky's pieces, has a complicated history but basically it's the story of a man who spend the night up on a mountain and is tormented by the devil and demons and spirits until the sun rises and the rooster crows. Similar to Danse Macabre. Disney took their turn at creating visual images to match the music.

We're also playing two sections from Pictures at an Exhibition- Baba Yaga and the Great Gates of Kiev. Baba Yaga is the focus here: she is a haggish character in Slavic folklore. She flies around on a giant pestle, kidnapping and eating small children, and lives in a hut that stands on chicken legs. Although mostly known as an antagonist, especially to scare young children, she has on rare occasions been known to offer guidance to lost souls. A completely different look at ways to terrify little children.

March to the Scaffold by Berlioz is part of Symphony Fantastique and just full of insanity. In this last movement, the protagonist of the symphony gets an overdose of opium, causing him to hallucinate that he killed his beloved and then later he gets marched to the guillotine where his head gets chopped off. Nothing pleasant about that but it's fun to play the sound of the ax and then the notes representing a bouncing head....

You cannot have a Halloween concert without playing the fabulous "In the Hall of the Mountain King" by Grieg. Part of the Peer Gynt Suite, ITHOTMK (it's just easier...) is probably one of the most well-known pieces of music and is found nearly everywhere. In a dream-like fantasy, Peer Gynt enters the royal hall of the Mountain King. There is a great crowd of troll courtiers, gnomes and goblins. The Old Man sits on his throne, with crown and sceptre, surrounded by his children and relatives. There is a tremendous uproar. And apparently they sing:

The troll-courtiers): Slagt ham! Kristenmands søn har dåret

Dovregubbens veneste mø!

Slagt ham!

Slagt ham!

(a troll-imp): Må jeg skjære ham i fingeren?

(another troll-imp): Må jeg rive ham i håret?

(a troll-maiden): Hu, hej, lad mig bide ham i låret!

(a troll-witch with a ladle): Skal han lages til sod og sø?

(another troll-witch, with a butcher knife): Skal han steges på spid eller brunes i gryde?

(the Mountain King): Isvand i blodet!

Slay him! The Christian's son has bewitched

The Mountain King's fairest daughter!

Slay him!

Slay him!

May I hack him on the fingers?

May I tug him by the hair?

Hu, hey, let me bite him in the haunches!

Shall he be boiled into broth and bree to me

Shall he roast on a spit or be browned in a stewpan?

Ice to your blood, friends!

And finally, it is near impossible to think of the Sorcerer's Apprentice without thinking about Mickey Mouse and brooms. So I'll let it speak for itself.