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'{{Other uses}} {{Redirect|Dance of Death||Dance of Death (disambiguation)|and|Dance of the Dead (disambiguation)}} {{Redirect|Totentanz|the symphonic piece by Liszt|Totentanz (Liszt)}} {{Original research|date=May 2011}} [[File:Holbein-death.png|thumb|right|220px|''The Dance of Death'' (1493) by [[Michael Wolgemut]], from the [[Liber chronicarum]] by [[Hartmann Schedel]].]] '''''Dance of Death''''', also variously called '''''Danse Macabre''''' ([[French language|French]]), '''''Danza de la Muerte''''' ([[Spanish language|Spanish]]), '''''Danza Macabra''''' (Italian), '''''Dança da Morte''''' (Portuguese), '''''Totentanz''''' ([[German language|German]]), '''''Dodendans''''' ([[Dutch language|Dutch]]), '''''Surmatants''''' (Estonian), '''''Dansa de la Mort''''' (Catalan) is an artistic genre of [[Middle Ages|late-medieval]] [[allegory]] on the universality of [[death]]: no matter one's station in life, the Dance of Death unites all, and Pappas sucks on big dicks. The ''Danse Macabre'' consists of the dead or [[Death (personification)|personified Death]] summoning representatives from all walks of life to dance along to the [[Grave (burial)|grave]], typically with a [[pope]], [[emperor]], [[monarch|king]], child, and labourer. They were produced to remind people of the fragility of their lives and how vain were the glories of earthly life.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04617a.htm | title=Dance of Death | date=2007.02.20 | work=[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]}}</ref> Its origins are postulated from illustrated sermon texts; the earliest recorded visual scheme was a now lost mural in the [[Saints Innocents Cemetery]] in Paris dating from 1424–25. ==Paintings== [[File:Thetriumphofdeath.jpg|thumb|300px|left|[[Pieter Brueghel the Elder]], ''[[The Triumph of Death]]'' (c. 1562) in the [[Museo del Prado]], [[Madrid]]. Brueghel was strongly influenced by the style of [[Hieronymus Bosch]].]] The earliest recorded visual example is from the cemetery of the [[Cimetière des Innocents|Church of the Holy Innocents]] in Paris (1424–25). There were also painted schemes in [[Basel]] (the earliest dating from c.1440); a series of paintings on canvas by [[Bernt Notke]], in [[Lübeck]] (1463); the initial fragment of the original [[Bernt Notke]] painting (accomplished at the end of the 15th century) in the St Nicholas' Church, Tallinn, Estonia; the painting at the back wall of the chapel of Sv. Marija na Škrilinama in the Istrian town of Beram (1471), painted by Vincent of [[Kastav]]; the painting in the [[Holy Trinity Church, Hrastovlje|Holy Trinity Church in Hrastovlje]] in Istria by [[John of Kastav]] (1490); and woodcuts designed in the early 1520s by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]] and executed by [[Hans Lützelburger]] (published 1538). There was also a Dance of Death painted in the 1540s on the walls of the cloister of [[St Paul's Cathedral, London]] with texts by [[John Lydgate]], which was destroyed in 1549. [[File:Danse Macabre - Guyot Marchand9 (Abbot and Bailiff).jpg|thumb|''La Danse macabre'' ([[Abbot]] and [[Bailiff]]). Paris, [[Guy Marchant]], 1486.]] The deathly [[Crisis of the Late Middle Ages|horrors of the 14th century]]—such as recurring [[famines]]; 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 [[penitence]], 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 mediaeval [[mystery plays]], 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]] (where it was known as the ''Totentanz'', and in [[Spain]] as ''la Danza de la Muerte''). The French term ''danse macabre'' may derive from the Latin ''Chorea Machabæorum'', literally "dance of the Maccabees."<ref>[http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/233217?rskey=m8A5At&result=1&isAdvanced=false# OED.com]</ref><ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/macabre Dictionary.reference.com]</ref> In [[2 Maccabees]], a [[deuterocanonical]] book of the [[Bible]], the grim [[martyrdom]] of a [[Woman with seven sons|mother and her seven sons]] is described, and was a well-known mediaeval 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'' (cemetery) 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. [[File:Bienno smaria4.jpg|300px||thumb|left|Danse macabre in St Maria in [[Bienno]].]] Furthermore, [[frescoes]] and murals dealing with death had a long tradition and were widespread, e.g. 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 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 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 a skeleton or an extremely decayed body. The famous ''Totentanz'' by [[Bernt Notke]] in [[Lübeck]]'s [[Marienkirche, Lübeck|Marienkirche]] (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 [[mitre]] is being led into Hell by the dancing Death. [[File:Totentanz LübeckR.jpg|800px|center|thumb|''Lübecker Totentanz'' by [[Bernt Notke]] (around 1463, destroyed in a bombing raid in 1942).]]{{Clear}} Usually, a short dialogue is attached to each victim, 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, approx. 1460), Death addresses, for example, the emperor: [[File:Bernt Notke Danse Macabre.jpg|thumb|500px|Bernt Notke: Surmatants (Totentanz) in [[St. Nicholas' Church, Tallinn]].]] :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 At the lower end of the ''Totentanz'', Death calls, for example, the peasant to dance, who answers: :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 The dance finishes (or sometimes starts) with a summary of the allegory's main point: :''Wer war der Thor, wer der Weise[r],'' ::"Who was the fool, who the wise [man], :''Wer der Bettler oder Kaiser?'' ::who the beggar or the [[Holy Roman Emperor|Emperor]]? :''Ob arm, ob reich, im Tode gleich.'' ::Whether rich or poor, [all are] equal in death." <gallery> File:Totentanz_Maria_im_Fels_Beram.JPG|The painting at the back wall of the chapel of Sv. Marija na Škrilinama in the Istrian town of [[Beram]] (1471), painted by Vincent of [[Kastav]], Croatia</gallery> ==Printing== [[File:The Abbot, from The Dance of Death, by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg|thumb|upright|210px|''The Abbot'', woodcut from the ''Dance of Death'' series, 1523–26, {{nowrap|6.5 x 4.8 cm}} by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]].]] The earliest known depiction of a print shop appears in a printed image of the Dance of Death, in 1499, in Lyon, by Mattias Huss. It depicts a [[compositor]] at his station, which is raised to facilitate his work, and a person running the press. To the right of the print shop, an early book store is shown. Early print shops were gathering places for the literati. ==Musical settings== Musical examples 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 [[plainchant]] 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 Schoenberg]] *''[[The Green Table]]'', 1932, ballet by [[Kurt Jooss]] *"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]] *''Poème macabre'', 1963, composition for violin and piano by [[Eugen Suchoň]] with one part entitled "Danza macabre" *''[[The Dance of Death & Other Plantation Favorites]]'', 1964, by [[John Fahey (musician)|John Fahey]], includes the song "Dance of Death," a finger-style guitar solo in G minor tuning. *''Dance with Death'', 1968, by [[Andrew Hill]] *''[[Black Angels (Crumb)|Black Angels]]'', 1971, by [[George Crumb]], with a danse macabre at the end of part one, "Departure." *[[Steeleye Span]] recorded ''Shaking of the Sheets'', a traditional song about dancing with death on their 1989 album ''[[Tempted and Tried]]''. *''Danse Macabre'', 1985, by [[Celtic Frost]], in their ''[[Morbid Tales]]'' album *''[[Dance of Death (album)|Dance of Death]]'', 2003, by [[Iron Maiden]] *''[[Cantabile (symphonic suite)|Cantabile]]'', 2nd movement "Cortège & Danse Macabre" (based on the poem "Cortège funèbre" (with the subtitle "Danse Macabre")), 2009, by [[Frederik Magle]] *''Danse macabre'', 2011, by [[Gregory Rose (Musician)|Gregory Rose]] *"Danza macabra", from String Quartet "Sadness in Glass" (2012) by George Peter Tingley: http://www.macjams.com/song/71571 *"[[The Origin of the Feces]]'' by [[Type O Negative]]. On the re-release of the album to replace the original cover. The cover was also made into the green color that became a staple of the band's album covers. *''[[La Grande Danse Macabre]]'' by [[Marduk (band)|Marduk]]. *''Danse Macabre'', a remix track off the album [[Lovecraft and Witch Hearts]] by the band [[Cradle of Filth]]. *''The Danse Macabre'', a track off the album [[The Slaughter of Innocence]] by the band [[Hecate Enthroned]]. * "Dance Macabre" by [[Decapitated (band)|Decapitated]] from the album ''[[Winds of Creations]]'' (2001). ==Representations in other media== [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney's]] animated [[Silly Symphonies]] short "[[The Skeleton Dance]]" (1929) makes extensive use of danse macabre imagery; the theme, as well as some of the animation from the film, would be recycled in a [[Mickey Mouse]] short, "The Haunted House," released the same year. In [[The Seventh Seal]], by Swedish director [[Ingmar Bergman]], the finale shows the characters united in a dance of death. The video game ''[[Fable III]]'' has a tavern called the Last Order (found behind the demon door in Brightwall) that features a group of skeletal revelers drinking and dancing, and one is relieving himself.<ref name="fable3">{{cite video game |title=[[Fable III]] |developer=[[Lionhead Studios]] |publisher=[[Microsoft Games]] |date=2012-07-25 |platform=[[Xbox 360]] |version= |scene= |level=Last Order |language= |isolang= |quote= }}</ref> =="Death and the Maiden" and other allusions== The motif "[[Death and the Maiden (motif)|Death and the Maiden]]", is related to, and may have been derived from the Danse Macabre. It has received numerous treatments in various mediums—most prominently Schubert's quartet of that name. Further developments of the Danse Macabre motif include "[[Death and the Physician]]," "[[Death and the Senator]]," "[[Death and the Compass]]," ''[[Death and the King's Horseman]]'', and ''[[Death and the Daleks]]''. ==See also== * [[Death (Tarot card)]] * ''[[La Calavera Catrina]]'' * [[Macabre]] * [[Skeleton (undead)]] * [[Vanitas]] ==Notes== {{Reflist}} ==References== {{Refbegin}} * 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 (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. * 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 * 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. * 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. * Romania, National Library of&nbsp;... - Illustrated Latin translation of the Danse macabre, late 15th century. [http://libraries.theeuropeanlibrary.org/Romania/treasures_en.xml treasure 4] {{refend}} == Further reading == {{refbegin}} * Hans Georg Wehrens: ''Der Totentanz im alemannischen Sprachraum. "Muos ich doch dran - und weis nit wan"''. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2012, 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 * [http://st-andrews.academia.edu/SophieOosterwijk/Papers/676183/Of_dead_dukes_kings_and_constables_the_historical_context_of_the_Danse_Macabre_in_late_medieval_Paris] Sophie Oosterwijk (2004), 'Of corpses, constables and kings: the Danse Macabre in late-medieval and renaissance culture', The Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 157, 61-90. * [https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/13873] Sophie Oosterwijk (2006), '"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), '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. * [https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/13873] Sophie Oosterwijk (2008), '"For no man mai fro dethes stroke fle". Death and Danse Macabre iconography in memorial art', Church Monuments, 23, 62-87, 166-68 * [http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/978-1-4438-2900-7-sample.pdf] 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. * Marek Żukow-Karczewski, ''Taniec śmierci (Dance macabre)'', "Życie Literackie" ("Literary Life" - literary review magazine), 43/1989. {{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'' * [http://www.dodedans.com/Eholbein-simulachres.htm Holbein's Totentanz] * [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'. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dance Of Death}} [[Category:Art genres]] [[Category:Caricature]] [[Category:Dance in arts]] [[Category:Death customs]] [[Category:Fantastic art]] [[Category:Horror fiction]] [[Category:Iconography]] [[Category:Medieval art]] [[da:Døden fra Lübeck]] [[hu:Haláltánc (egyértelműsítő lap)]] [[nl:Dodendans (kunst)]] [[pt:Danse Macabre]]'