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'{{About||other uses of Danse Macabre and Dance Macabre}} {{redirect2|Dance of Death|Totentanz|other uses|Dance of Death (disambiguation)|and|Totentanz (disambiguation)}} {{short description|Artistic motif on the universality of death}} [[File:Nuremberg chronicles - Dance of Death (CCLXIIIIv).jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|''The Dance of Death'' (1493) by [[Michael Wolgemut]], from the ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'' of [[Hartmann Schedel]]]] The '''''Danse Macabre''''' ({{IPAc-en|d|ɑː|n|s|_|m|ə|ˈ|k|ɑː|b|(|r|ə|)}}; {{IPA-fr|dɑ̃s ma.kabʁ}}) (from the [[French language]]), also called the '''Dance of Death''', is an artistic genre of [[allegory]] of the [[Late Middle Ages]] on the universality of [[death]]. The ''Danse Macabre'' consists of the dead, or a [[Death (personification)|personification of death]], summoning representatives from all walks of life to dance along to the [[grave]], typically with a [[pope]], [[emperor]], [[monarch|king]], [[child]], and [[labourer]]. The effect is both frivolous and terrifying, beseeching its audience to react emotionally. It was produced as ''[[memento mori]]'', to remind people of the fragility of their lives and how vain are the glories of earthly life.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04617a.htm | title=Dance of Death | date=2007-02-20 | encyclopedia=[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]}}</ref> Its origins are postulated from illustrated [[sermon]] texts; the earliest recorded visual scheme was a now-lost mural at [[Holy Innocents' Cemetery]] in Paris dating from 1424 to 1425. ==Background== Historian [[Francis Rapp]] (1926–2020) writes that "''Christians werehsfbishhhhkskdddddddddddbjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjdsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssj moved by the sight of the [[Infant Jesus]] playing on his mother's knee; their hearts were touched by the [[Pietà]]; and [[patron saint]]s reassured them by their presence. But, all the while, the danse macabre urged them not to forget the end of all earthly things.''"<ref name="Allmand1998">{{cite book|last=Rapp|first=Francis|title='Religious Belief and Practice' in The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 7, c. 1415–c. 1500|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qzc8OeuSXFMC&pg=PA210|access-date=19 October 2015|year=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0521382960|page=210|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423072407/https://books.google.com/books?id=Qzc8OeuSXFMC&pg=PA210|archive-date=23 April 2016}}</ref> This ''Danse Macabre'' was enacted at village pageants and at [[Masque|court masques]], with people "''dressing up as corpses from various strata of society''", and may have been the origin of costumes worn during [[Allhallowtide]].<ref name="PulliamFonseca2016">{{cite book|last1=Pulliam|first1=June|last2=Fonseca|first2=Anthony J.|title=Ghosts in Popular Culture and Legend|year=2016|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|language=en|isbn=978-1440834912|page=145|quote=Since the 16th century, costumes have become a central part of Halloween traditions. Perhaps the most common traditional Halloween costume is that of the ghost. This is likely because ... when Halloween customs began to be influenced by Catholicism, the incorporation of the themes of All Hallows' and All Souls' Day would have emphasised visitations from the spirit world over the motifs of spirites and fairies. ... The baking and allowing them to go door to door to collect them in exchange for praying for the dead (a practice called souling), often carrying lanterns made of hollowed-out turnips. Around the 16th century, the practice of going house to house in disguise (a practice called guising) to ask for food began and was often accompanied by recitation of traditional verses (a practice called mumming). Wearing costumes, another tradition, has many possible explanations, such as it was done to confuse the spirits or souls who visited the earth or who rose from local graveyards to engage in what was called a Danse Macabre, basically a large party among the dead.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Books & Culture: A Christian Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOVEAQAAIAAJ|year=1999|publisher=[[Christianity Today]]|page=12|quote=Sometimes enacted as at village pageants, the danse macabre was also performed as court masques, the courtiers dressing up as corpses from various strata of society...both the name and the observance began liturgically as All Hallows' Eve.|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423113526/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOVEAQAAIAAJ|archive-date=23 April 2016}}</ref><ref name="Morrow2001">{{cite book|last=Morrow|first=Ed|title=The Halloween Handbook|year=2001|publisher=Kensington Publishing Corporation|language=en|isbn=978-0806522272|page=[https://archive.org/details/halloweenhandboo00morr/page/19 19]|quote=Another contributor to the custom of dressing up at Halloween was the old Irish practice of marking All Hallows' Day with religious pageants that recounted biblical events. These were common during the Middle Ages all across Europe. The featured players dressed as saints and angels, but there were also plenty of roles for demons who had more fun, capering, acting devilish, and playing to the crows. The pageant began inside the church, then moved by procession to the churchyard, where it continued long into the night.|url=https://archive.org/details/halloweenhandboo00morr/page/19}}</ref><ref name="Hörandner2005">{{cite book|last=Hörandner|first=Editha|title=Halloween in der Steiermark und anderswo |year=2005|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=978-3825888893|page=99|quote=On the other hand the postmodern phenomenon of "antifashion" is also to be found in some Halloween costumes. Black and orange are a 'must' with many costumes. Halloween – like the medieval danse macabre – is closely connected with superstitions and it might be a way of dealing with death in a playful way.}}</ref> In her thesis, ''The Black Death and its Effect on 14th and 15th Century Art'', Anna Louise Des Ormeaux describes the effect of the Black Death on art, mentioning the ''Danse Macabre'' as she does so:<blockquote>Some plague art contains gruesome imagery that was directly influenced by the mortality of the plague or by the medieval fascination with the macabre and awareness of death that were augmented by the plague. Some plague art documents psychosocial responses to the fear that plague aroused in its victims. Other plague art is of a subject that directly responds to people's reliance on religion to give them hope.<ref>{{Cite book |last=DesOrmeaux |first=Anna Louise |title=The Black Death and its Effect on 14th and 15th Century Art |publisher=Louisiana State University |pages=29}}{{ISBN?}}</ref></blockquote> The cultural impact of mass outbreaks of disease, of pandemics, are not fleeting or temporary. The effect can endure past the initial stages of outbreak, in its deep etching upon the culture and society. This can be seen in the artworks and motifs of ''Danse Macabre'' as people attempted to cope with the death surrounding them. ==Paintings== [[File:Charnier at Saints Innocents Cemetery.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Charnel house]] at [[Holy Innocents' Cemetery]], Paris, with mural of a ''Danse Macabre'' (1424–25)]] The earliest recorded visual example is the lost mural on the South wall of the Cemetery of the Holy Innocents in Paris. It was painted in 1424–25 during the regency of [[John, Duke of Bedford]] (1389–1435). It features an emphatic inclusion of a dead crowned king at a time when France did not have a crowned king. The mural may well have had a political subtext.<ref>Oosterwijk (2008).</ref> There were also painted schemes in [[Basel]] (the earliest dating from {{circa|1440}}); a series of paintings on canvas by [[Bernt Notke]] (1440–1509) in [[Lübeck]] (1463); the initial fragment of the original Bernt Notke painting ''[[Danse Macabre (Notke)|Danse Macabre]]'' (accomplished at the end of the 15th century) in the [[St. Nicholas' Church, Tallinn|St Nicholas' Church]], [[Tallinn]], [[Estonia]]; the painting at the back wall of the chapel of Sv. Marija na Škrilinama in the [[Istria]]n town of Beram (1474), painted by Vincent of [[Kastav]]; the painting in the [[Holy Trinity Church (Hrastovlje)|Holy Trinity Church]] of [[Hrastovlje]], Istria by [[John of Kastav]] (1490). {{clear}} {{Wide image|Bernt Notke Danse Macabre.jpg|1000|align-cap=center|Bernt Notke: ''Surmatants'' (''Totentanz'') from [[St. Nicholas' Church, Tallinn]], end of 15th century (today in the [[Art Museum of Estonia]])}} [[File:Danse Macabre - Guyot Marchand9 (Abbot and Bailiff).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|An [[abbot]] and a [[bailiff]], dancing the Dance Macabre, miniature from a 1486 book, printed by [[Guy Marchant]] in Paris]] A notable example was painted on the cemetery walls of the Dominican Abbey, in [[Bern]], by [[Niklaus Manuel Deutsch]] (1484–1530) in 1516/7. This work of art was destroyed when the wall was torn down in 1660, but a 1649 copy by [[Albrecht Kauw]] (1621–1681) is extant. There was also a ''Dance of Death'' painted around 1430 and displayed on the walls of Pardon Churchyard at Old [[St Paul's Cathedral]], London, with texts by [[John Lydgate]] (1370–1451) known as the 'Dance of (St) Poulys', which was destroyed in 1549. The deathly [[crisis of the Late Middle Ages|horrors of the 14th century]] such as recurring [[famine]]s, the [[Hundred Years' War]] in [[France]], and, most of all, the [[Black Death]], were culturally assimilated throughout Europe. The omnipresent possibility of sudden and painful death increased the religious desire for [[penance]], but it also evoked a hysterical desire for amusement while still possible; a last dance as cold comfort. The ''Danse Macabre'' combines both desires: in many ways similar to the medieval [[mystery play]]s, the dance-with-death allegory was originally a [[didacticism|didactic]] dialogue poem to remind people of the inevitability of death and to advise them strongly to be prepared at all times for death (see ''[[memento mori]]'' and ''[[Ars moriendi]]''). Short verse dialogues between Death and each of its victims, which could have been performed as plays, can be found in the direct aftermath of the Black Death in [[Germany]] and in [[Spain]] (where it was known as the ''Totentanz'' and ''la Danza de la Muerte'', respectively). The French term ''Danse Macabre'' may derive from the Latin ''Chorea Machabæorum'', literally "dance of the Maccabees."<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/233217?rskey=m8A5At&result=1&isAdvanced=false#| title = OED.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/macabre| title = Dictionary.reference.com}}</ref> In [[2 Maccabees]], a [[deuterocanonical books|deuterocanonical book]] of the [[Bible]], the grim [[martyr]]dom of a [[woman with seven sons|mother and her seven sons]] is described and was a well-known medieval subject. It is possible that the Maccabean Martyrs were commemorated in some early French plays, or that people just associated the book's vivid descriptions of the martyrdom with the interaction between Death and its prey. An alternative explanation is that the term entered France via Spain, the {{lang-ar |مقابر}}, ''maqabir'' (pl., "cemeteries") being the root of the word. Both the dialogues and the evolving paintings were ostensive penitential lessons that even illiterate people (who were the overwhelming majority) could understand. ==Mural paintings== [[Fresco]]es and murals dealing with death had a long tradition, and were widespread. For example, the legend of the ''Three Living and the Three Dead.'' On a ride or hunt, three young gentlemen meet three cadavers (sometimes described as their ancestors) who warn them, ''Quod fuimus, estis; quod sumus, vos eritis'' ("What we were, you are; what we are, you will be"). Numerous mural versions of that legend from the 13th century onwards have survived (for instance, in the [[:de:Heiligen-Geist-Hospital (Wismar)|Hospital Church]] of [[Wismar]] or the residential [[Longthorpe Tower]] outside [[Peterborough]]). Since they showed pictorial sequences of men and corpses covered with shrouds, those paintings are sometimes regarded as cultural precursors of the new genre. A ''Danse Macabre'' painting may show a round dance headed by Death or, more usually, a chain of alternating dead and live dancers. From the highest ranks of the mediaeval hierarchy (usually [[pope]] and [[emperor]]) descending to its lowest (beggar, peasant, and child), each mortal's hand is taken by an animated skeleton or cadaver. The famous ''Totentanz'' by Bernt Notke in [[St. Mary's Church, Lübeck]] (destroyed during the Allied [[bombing of Lübeck in World War II]]), presented the dead dancers as very lively and agile, making the impression that they were actually dancing, whereas their living dancing partners looked clumsy and passive. The apparent class distinction in almost all of these paintings is completely neutralized by Death as the ultimate equalizer, so that a sociocritical element is subtly inherent to the whole genre. The ''Totentanz'' of [[Metnitz]], for example, shows how a pope crowned with his [[tiara]] is being led into Hell by Death. {{Wide image|Totentanz LübeckR.jpg|2000px|align-cap=center|''Lübecker Totentanz'' by [[Bernt Notke]] (around 1463, destroyed in a bombing raid in 1942)|alt=A mural depicting a chain of alternating living and dead dancers}} Usually, a short dialogue is attached to each pair of dancers, in which Death is summoning him (or, more rarely, her) to dance and the summoned is moaning about impending death. In the first printed ''Totentanz'' textbook (Anon.: ''Vierzeiliger oberdeutscher Totentanz'', Heidelberger Blockbuch, {{circa|1455/58}}), Death addresses, for example, the emperor: {{quote|<poem> Emperor, your sword won't help you out Sceptre and crown are worthless here I've taken you by the hand For you must come to my dance </poem>}} At the lower end of the ''Totentanz'', Death calls, for example, the peasant to dance, who answers: {{quote|<poem> I had to work very much and very hard The sweat was running down my skin I'd like to escape death nonetheless But here I won't have any luck </poem>}}Various examples of ''Danse Macabre'' in Slovenia and Croatia below: <gallery mode="packed"> File:Totentanz Maria im Fels Beram.JPG|The fresco at the back wall of the Church of St. Mary of the Rocks in the [[Istria County|Istrian]] town of Beram (1474), painted by Vincent of [[Kastav]], [[Croatia]] File:Hrastovlje Dans3.jpg|[[John of Kastav]]: Detail of the ''Dance Macabre fresco'' (1490) in the [[Holy Trinity Church (Hrastovlje)|Holy Trinity Church]] in [[Hrastovlje]], [[Slovenia]] File:Dance of Death (replica of 15th century fresco; National Gallery of Slovenia).jpg|''Dance of Death'' (replica of 15th century fresco; [[National Gallery of Slovenia]]) File:Totentanz in Hrastovlje.JPG|The famous ''Danse Macabre'' in [[Hrastovlje]] in the [[Holy Trinity Church (Hrastovlje)|Holy Trinity Church]] File:Trionfo della morte - Chiesa S. Maria Annunciata - Bienno (ph Luca Giarelli).jpg|''Danse Macabre'' in St Maria in [[Bienno]], 16th century </gallery> ==Hans Holbein's woodcuts== {{Infobox book | name = The Dance of Death | image = 3. Holbein death Abbot.300dpi.jpg | author = [[Hans Holbein the Younger]] | country = England | genre = [[Allegory]], [[satire]], [[woodcuts]] and [[death]]. | translator = | caption = Example of a woodcut from the book.[The Abbott] | cover_artist = | series = | release_date = 1538 | title_orig = Danse Macabre }} {{anchor|Holbein}} Renowned for his ''Dance of Death'' series, the famous designs by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]] (1497–1543) were drawn in 1526 while he was in [[Basel]]. They were cut in wood by the accomplished [[Formschneider]] (block cutter) [[Hans Lützelburger]]. William Ivins (quoting W. J. Linton) writes of Lützelburger's work wrote: "''{{`}}Nothing indeed, by knife or by graver, is of higher quality than this man's doing.' For by common acclaim the originals are technically the most marvelous woodcuts ever made''."<ref>Ivins, p. 234.</ref> These woodcuts soon appeared in proofs with titles in German. The first book edition, containing forty-one woodcuts, was published at Lyons by the Treschsel brothers in 1538. The popularity of the work, and the currency of its message, are underscored by the fact that there were eleven editions before 1562, and over the sixteenth century perhaps as many as a hundred unauthorized editions and imitations.<ref>Clark (1947), p. 32.</ref> Ten further designs were added in later editions. The ''Dance of Death'' (1523–26) refashions the late-medieval [[allegory]] of the ''Danse Macabre'' as a reformist satire, and one can see the beginnings of a gradual shift from traditional to reformed Christianity.<ref>Wilson, 96–103.</ref> That shift had many permutations however, and in a study Natalie Zemon Davis has shown that the contemporary reception and afterlife of Holbein's designs lent themselves to neither purely Catholic or Protestant doctrine, but could be outfitted with different surrounding prefaces and sermons as printers and writers of different political and religious leanings took them up. Most importantly, "''The pictures and the Bible quotations above them were the main attractions […] Both Catholics and Protestants wished, through the pictures, to turn men's thoughts to a Christian preparation for death.''".<ref>Davis, p. 126.</ref> The 1538 edition which contained Latin quotations from the Bible above Holbein's designs, and a French quatrain below composed by [[Gilles Corrozet]] (1510–1568) actually did not credit Holbein as the artist. It bore the title: Les simulachres & / HISTORIEES FACES / DE LA MORT, AUTANT ELE/gammēt pourtraictes, que artifi/ciellement imaginées. / A Lyon. / Soubz l'escu de COLOIGNE. / M.D. XXXVIII. ("Images and Illustrated facets of Death, as elegantly depicted as they are artfully conceived.")<ref>See External links to access to this work, including English translation, online.</ref> These images and workings of death as captured in the phrase "histories faces" of the title "are the particular exemplification of the way death works, the individual scenes in which the lessons of mortality are brought home to people of every station."<ref>Gundersheimer, introduction, p.xi.</ref> [[File:Holbein Danse Macabre 5.jpg|left|thumb|from Holbein's ''Simolachri, Historie, e Figure de la Morte'' (In Lyone Appresso Giovan Frellone, 1549)]] [[File:Holbein Danse Macabre 15.jpg|thumb|The Abbess from Holbein's ''Simolachri, Historie, e Figure de la Morte'', 1549]] In his preface to the work Jean de Vauzèle, the Prior of Montrosier, addresses Jehanne de Tourzelle, the Abbess of the Convent at St. Peter at Lyons, and names Holbein's attempts to capture the ever-present, but never directly seen, abstract images of death "simulachres." He writes: "''[…] simulachres les dis ie vrayement, pour ce que simulachre vient de simuler, & faindre ce que n'est point.''" ("Simulachres they are most correctly called, for simulachre derives from the verb to simulate and to feign that which is not really there.") He next employs a trope from the [[memento mori]] (remember we all must die) tradition and a metaphor from printing which well captures the undertakings of Death, the artist, and the printed book before us in which these simulachres of death barge in on the living: ''"Et pourtant qu'on n'a peu trouver chose plus approchante a la similitude de Mort, que la personne morte, on d'icelle effigie simulachres, & faces de Mort, pour en nos pensees imprimer la memoire de Mort plus au vis, que ne pourroient toutes les rhetoriques descriptiones de orateurs."''<ref>As reproduced in Gundersheimer, 1971. p. 5. Register Aiii of original.</ref> ("And yet we cannot discover any one thing more near the likeness of Death than the dead themselves, whence come these simulated effigies and images of Death's affairs, which imprint the memory of Death with more force than all the rhetorical descriptions of the orators ever could."). [[File:Holbein Danse Macabre 38.jpg|thumb|The Plowman from Holbein's ''Simolachri, Historie, e Figure de la Morte'', 1549]] [[File:Holbein Danse Macabre 37.jpg|right|thumb|The Pedlar from Holbein's ''Simolachri, Historie, e Figure de la Morte'' (In Lyone Appresso Giovan Frellone, 1549)]] Holbein's series shows the figure of "Death" in many disguises, confronting individuals from all walks of life. None escape Death's skeletal clutches, not even the pious.<ref>Bätschmann & Griener, 56–58, and Landau & Parshall, 216.</ref> As Davis writes, "Holbein's pictures are independent dramas in which Death comes upon his victim in the midst of the latter's own surroundings and activities.<ref>Davis, p.101</ref> This is perhaps nowhere more strikingly captured than in the wonderful blocks showing the plowman earning his bread by the sweat of his brow only to have his horses speed him to his end by Death. The Latin from the 1549 Italian edition pictured here reads: "In sudore vultus tui, vesceris pane tuo." ("Through the sweat of thy brow you shall eat your bread"), quoting Genesis 3.19. The Italian verses below translate: ("Miserable in the sweat of your brow,/ It is necessary that you acquire the bread you need eat,/ But, may it not displease you to come with me,/ If you are desirous of rest."). Or there is the nice balance in composition Holbein achieves between the heavy-laden traveling salesman insisting that he must still go to market while Death tugs at his sleeve to put down his wares once and for all: "Venite ad me, qui onerati estis." ("Come to me, all ye who [labour and] are heavy laden"), quoting Matthew 11.28. The Italian here translates: ("Come with me, wretch, who are weighed down,/ Since I am the dame who rules the whole world:/ Come and hear my advice,/ Because I wish to lighten you of this load.").<ref>Simolachri, Historie, e Figure de la Morte. In Lyone Appresso. Giovan Frellone, M.D. XLIX.</ref> [[File:Vilnius - St. Peter and St. Paul's Church 10.jpg|thumb|Danse Macabre, a reminder of the universality of death in the [[Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Vilnius|St. Peter and St. Paul church]], Vilnius]] ==Musical settings== Musical settings of the motif include: * ''Mattasin oder Toden Tanz'', 1598, by [[August Nörmiger]] * ''[[Totentanz (Liszt)|Totentanz. Paraphrase on "Dies irae."]]'' by [[Franz Liszt]], 1849, a set of variations based on the [[plainsong]] melody "[[Dies Irae]]". * ''[[Danse macabre (Saint-Saëns)|Danse Macabre]]'' by [[Camille Saint-Saëns]], 1874 * ''[[Songs and Dances of Death]]'', 1875–77, by [[Modest Mussorgsky]] * ''[[Symphony No. 4 (Mahler)|Symphony No. 4]]'', 2nd Movement, 1901, by [[Gustav Mahler]] * ''Totentanz der Prinzipien'', 1914, by [[Arnold Schönberg]] * ''[[The Green Table]]'', 1932, ballet by [[Kurt Jooss]] * ''[[Totentanz (Distler)|Totentanz]]'', 1934, by [[Hugo Distler]], inspired by the ''Lübecker Totentanz'' * "Scherzo (Dance of Death)," in Op. 14 ''Ballad of Heroes'', 1939, by [[Benjamin Britten]] * ''[[Piano Trio No. 2 (Shostakovich)|Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor]]'', Op. 67, 4th movement, "Dance of Death," 1944, by [[Dmitri Shostakovich]] * ''[[Der Kaiser von Atlantis|Der Kaiser von Atlantis, oder Die Tod-Verweigerung]]'', 1944, by [[Viktor Ullmann]] and [[Peter Kien]] * ''[[Le Grand Macabre]]'', opera written by [[György Ligeti]] (Stockholm 1978) * ''Danse Macabre'', song, 1984, by [[Celtic Frost]], Swiss [[Extreme metal music|extreme metal]] band * ''[[Danse_Macabre_(album)|Dance Macabre]]'', 2001, album by [[The Faint]] * ''[[Dance of Death (album)|Dance of Death]]'', 2003, an album and a song by [[Iron Maiden]], [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]] band * ''Cortège & Danse Macabre'' from the symphonic suite [[Cantabile (symphonic suite)|''Cantabile'']], 2009, by [[Frederik Magle]] * ''[[Totentanz (Adès)]]'' by [[Thomas Adès]], 2013, a piece for voices and orchestra based on the 15th century text. * ''La Danse Macabre'', song on the [[Shovel Knight]] soundtrack, 2014, by [[Jake Kaufman]] * ''Dance Macabre'', 2018, by [[Ghost (Swedish band)]], Swedish [[Heavy metal music|heavy metal]] band * La danse macabre, song, 2019, by Clément Belio, French multi-instrumentalist ==Textual examples of the Danse Macabre== The ''Danse Macabre'' was a frequent motif in poetry, drama and other written literature in the Middle Ages in several areas of western Europe. There is a Spanish {{lang|es|Danza de la Muerte}}, a French {{lang|fr|Danse Macabre}}, and a German {{lang|de|Totentanz}} with various Latin manuscripts written during the 14th century.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Clark|first=James M.|date=1950|title=The Dance of Death in Medieval Literature: Some Recent Theories of Its Origin|journal=The Modern Language Review|volume=45|issue=3|pages=336–345|doi=10.2307/3718509| jstor=3718509 |issn=0026-7937}}</ref> Printed editions of books began appearing in the 15th century, such as the ones produced by [[Guy Marchant]] of Paris. Similarly to the musical or artistic representations, the texts describe living and dead persons being called to dance or form a procession with Death.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Encyclopaedia Britannica|date=n.d.|title=Dance of Death: Allegorical Concept|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/dance-of-death-art-motif|access-date=2022-01-29|website=www.britannica.com}}</ref> ''Danse Macabre'' texts were often, though not always, illustrated with illuminations and woodcuts.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wildridge|first=T. Tindall|url=https://wellcomecollection.org/works/ur4a75fh|title=The dance of death in painting and in print|publisher=G. Redway|year=1887|location=London}}</ref> There is one danse macabre text devoted entirely to women: ''The Danse Macabre of Women''. This work survives in five manuscripts, and two printed editions. In it, 36 women of various ages, in Paris, are called from their daily lives and occupations to join the Dance with Death. An English translation of the French manuscript was published by [[Ann Tukey Harrison]] in 1994.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The danse macabre of women: ms. fr. 995 of the Bibliothèque nationale|date=1994|publisher=The Kent State University Press|editor=Ann Tukey Harrison |isbn=0-87338-473-3|location=Kent, Ohio|oclc=27382819}}</ref> ==Literary influence== The "[[Death and the Maiden (motif)|Death and the Maiden motif]]", known from paintings since the early 16th century, is related to, and may have been derived from, the ''Danse Macabre''. It has received numerous treatments in various media{{snd}}most prominently Schubert's [[lied]] "[[Der Tod und das Mädchen]]" (1817) and the [[String Quartet No. 14 (Schubert)|String Quartet No. 14 ''Death and the Maiden'']], partly derived from its musical material. Further developments of the ''Danse Macabre'' motif include: * ''[[Godfather Death]]'', a fairy tale, collected by the [[Brothers Grimm]] (first published in 1812). * "After Holbein" (1928), short story by [[Edith Wharton]], first published in the ''[[The Saturday Evening Post|Saturday Evening Post]]'' in May 1928; republished in ''Certain People'' (1930) and in ''The New York Stories of Edith Wharton'', ed. Roxana Robinson ([[New York Review Books]], 2007). * "[[Death and the Compass]]" (original title: "La muerte y la brújula", 1942), short story by [[Jorge Luis Borges]]. * A Danse Macabre scene is depicted near the end of [[Ingmar Bergman]]'s 1957 film ''[[The Seventh Seal]]''. * "[[Death and the Senator]]", short story (1961) by [[Arthur C. Clarke]]. * "[[Dance Cadaverous]]" is a song written and performed by [[Wayne Shorter]] (released 1966). * ''[[Death and the King's Horseman]]'', play by [[Wole Soyinka]] (premiered 1975). * ''[[Dance with Death (album)|Dance with Death]]'', a jazz album released in 1980 by [[Andrew Hill (jazz musician)|Andrew Hill]]. * ''[[Danse Macabre (book)|Danse Macabre]]'', a 1981 non-fiction work by [[Stephen King]]. * ''[[The Graveyard Book]]'', a 2008 novel by [[Neil Gaiman]]. Chapter five, "Danse Macabre", depicts the ghosts of the Graveyard dancing with the inhabitants of the Old Town. * "[[Death Dance]]" (2016), a song written and performed by American rock band, [[Sevendust]]. * "[[Lincoln in the Bardo]]" a novel by George Saunders(published in 2017). * "[[Dance Macabre (song)|Dance Macabre]]", a song written and performed by Swedish metal or hard rock band [[Ghost (Swedish band)|Ghost]] on their 2018 album ''[[Prequelle]]'', concentrating on the [[Black Death]] plague of the 14th century. ==See also== * [[Dancing Pallbearers]] * ''[[La Calavera Catrina]]'' * [[Medieval dance]] * ''[[Memento mori]]'' * ''[[The Skeleton Dance]]'' * ''[[Vanitas]]'' ==Notes== {{Reflist}} ==References== {{Refbegin}} *Bätschmann, Oskar, & Pascal Griener (1997), ''Hans Holbein.'' London: Reaktion Books. * Israil Bercovici (1998) ''O sută de ani de teatru evriesc în România'' ("One hundred years of Yiddish/Jewish theater in Romania"), 2nd Romanian-language edition, revised and augmented by Constantin Măciucă. Editura Integral (an imprint of Editurile Universala), Bucharest. {{ISBN|973-98272-2-5}}. * James M. Clark (1947), ''The Dance of Death by Hans Holbein'', London. * James M. Clark (1950) ''The Dance of Death in the Middle Ages and Renaissance''. * André Corvisier (1998) ''Les danses macabres'', Presses Universitaires de France. {{ISBN|2-13-049495-1}}. * Natalie Zemon Davis (1956), "Holbein's Pictures of Death and the Reformation at Lyons," ''Studies in the Renaissance'', vol. 3 (1956), pp.&nbsp;97–130. * Rolf Paul Dreier (2010) ''Der Totentanz - ein Motiv der kirchlichen Kunst als Projektionsfläche für profane Botschaften (1425–1650)'', Leiden, {{ISBN|978-90-90-25111-0}} with CD-ROM: Verzeichnis der Totentänze * Werner L. Gundersheimer (1971), ''The Dance of Death by Hans Holbein the Younger: A Complete Facsimile of the Original 1538 Edition of Les simulachres et histoirees faces de la Mort''. New york: Dover Publications, Inc. * William M. Ivins Jr. (1919), "Hans Holbein's Dance of Death," ''The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin'', vol. 14, no. 11 (Nov., 1919). pp.&nbsp;231–235. * Landau, David, & Peter Parshall (1996), ''The Renaissance Print'', New Haven (CT): Yale, 1996. * Francesc Massip & Lenke Kovács (2004), ''El baile: conjuro ante la muerte. Presencia de lo macabro en la danza y la fiesta popular''. Ciudad Real, CIOFF-INAEM, 2004. * Sophie Oosterwijk (2008), 'Of dead kings, dukes and constables. The historical context of the Danse Macabre in late-medieval Paris', ''Journal of the British Archaeological Association'', 161, 131–62. * Sophie Oosterwijk and Stefanie Knoell (2011), ''Mixed Metaphors. The Danse Macabre in Medieval and Early Modern Europe'', Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1-4438-2900-7}}. * Romania, National Library of&nbsp;... - Illustrated Latin translation of the'' Danse Macabre'', late 15th century. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070510044945/http://libraries.theeuropeanlibrary.org/Romania/treasures_en.xml treasure 4] * Meinolf Schumacher (2001), "Ein Kranz für den Tanz und ein Strich durch die Rechnung. Zu Oswald von Wolkenstein 'Ich spür ain tier' (Kl 6)", ''Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur'', vol. 123 (2001), pp.&nbsp;253–273. * Ann Tukey Harrison (1994), with a chapter by Sandra L. Hindman, ''The Danse Macabre of Women: Ms.fr. 995 of the Bibliothèque Nationale'', Kent State University Press. {{ISBN|0-87338-473-3}}. *Wilson, Derek (2006) ''Hans Holbein: Portrait of an Unknown Man.'' London: Pimlico, Revised Edition. {{refend}} ==Further reading== {{refbegin}} * Henri Stegemeier (1939) ''The Dance of Death in Folksong, with an Introduction on the History of the Dance of Death.'' University of Chicago. * Henri Stegemeier (1949) [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27715033?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents, Goethe and the "Totentanz"] ''The Journal of English and Germanic Philology'' 48:4 Goethe Bicentennial Issue 1749–1949. 48:4, 582–587. * Hans Georg Wehrens (2012) ''Der Totentanz im alemannischen Sprachraum. "Muos ich doch dran - und weis nit wan"''. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg {{ISBN|978-3-7954-2563-0}}. * Elina Gertsman (2010), The Dance of Death in the Middle Ages. Image, Text, Performance. ''Studies in the Visual Cultures of the Middle Ages'', 3. Turnhout, Brepols Publishers. {{ISBN|978-2-503-53063-5}} *Sophie Oosterwijk (2004), '[https://st-andrews.academia.edu/SophieOosterwijk/Papers/676183/Of_dead_dukes_kings_and_constables_the_historical_context_of_the_Danse_Macabre_in_late_medieval_Paris Of corpses, constables and kings: the Danse Macabre in late-medieval and renaissance culture]', ''The Journal of the British Archaeological Association'', 157, 61–90. * Sophie Oosterwijk (2006), '"[https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/13873 Muoz ich tanzen und kan nit gân?]" Death and the infant in the medieval Danse Macabre', ''Word & Image'', 22:2, 146–64. * Sophie Oosterwijk (2008), '"[https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/13873 For no man mai fro dethes stroke fle]". Death and Danse Macabre iconography in memorial art', ''Church Monuments'', 23, 62–87, 166-68 * Sophie Oosterwijk and Stefanie Knoell (2011), ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120426021601/http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/978-1-4438-2900-7-sample.pdf Mixed Metaphors. The Danse Macabre in Medieval and Early Modern Europe]''. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1-4438-2900-7}}. * [[Marek Żukow-Karczewski]] (1989), "Taniec śmierci (Dance macabre"), Życie Literackie (''Literary Life'' - literary review magazine), 43, 4. * Maricarmen Gómez Muntané (2017), ''El Llibre Vermell. Cantos y danzas de fines del Medioevo'', Madrid: Fondo de Cultura Económica, (chapter "Ad mortem festinamus' y la Danza de la Muerte"). {{ISBN|978-84-375-0767-5}} {{Refend}} ==External links== {{Commons category|Danse Macabre}} * [http://fantastic.library.cornell.edu/dance.php A collection of historical images of the Danse Macabre] at Cornell's ''The Fantastic in Art and Fiction'' *[https://random-times.com/2018/07/20/the-danse-macabre-of-hrastovlje-a-very-rare-medieval-fresco-hidden-until-1949/ The Danse Macabre of Hrastovlje, Slovenia] * [http://www.dodedans.com/Eholbein-simulachres.htm Holbein's Totentanz] * [https://archive.org/details/lessimulachresh00greegoog ''Les simulachres & historiees faces de la mort: commonly called "The dance of death''''] - 1869 photographic reproduction of original by Holbein Society with woodcuts, plus English translations and a biography of Holbein. * [https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/13873] Sophie Oosterwijk (2009), '"Fro Paris to Inglond"? The danse macabre in text and image in late-medieval England', Doctoral thesis Leiden University available online. * [http://www.semecky.com/fotky/index.php?dcol=5 Images of ''Danse Macabre'' (2001)] Conceptual performance by Antonia Svobodová and Mirek Vodrážka in Čajovna Pod Stromem Čajovým in Prague 22 May 2001'. * {{citation|url=http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/rosenwald.0406 |title=Chorea ab eximio Macabro / versibus Alemanicis edita et a Petro Desrey ... nuper emendata |author=Pierre Desrey|author-link=Pierre Desrey|via=Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the [[Library of Congress]]}} * [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/rosenwald.0406 Dance of Death, Chorea, ab eximio Macabro versibus Alemanicis edita et a Petro Desrey ... nuper emendata.] Paris, Gui Marchand, for Geoffroy de Marnef, 15 Oct. (Id. Oct.) 1490. From the [https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/ Rare Book and Special Collections Division] at the [[Library of Congress]] * [http://www.capitalcollections.org.uk/index.php?a=ViewItem&i=29064&WINID=1456489922521 An introduction to the Dance of Death], Art & Design Library, [[Central Library, Edinburgh]] {{Death and mortality in art}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Dance Of Death}} [[Category:Visual arts genres]] [[Category:Caricature]] [[Category:Dance in arts]] [[Category:Death customs]] [[Category:Fantastic art]] [[Category:Horror fiction]] [[Category:Iconography]] [[Category:Medieval art]] [[Category:Medieval drama]] [[Category:Memento mori]] [[Category:Skulls in art]] [[Category:Epidemics in art]]'