death, dance of

death, dance of

▪ art motif
also called  danse macabre 
 medieval allegorical concept of the all-conquering and equalizing power of death, expressed in the drama, poetry, music, and visual arts of western Europe mainly in the late Middle Ages. Strictly speaking, it is a literary or pictorial representation of a procession or dance of both living and dead figures, the living arranged in order of their rank, from pope and emperor to child, clerk, and hermit, and the dead leading them to the grave. The dance of death had its origins in late 13th- or early 14th-century poems that combined the essential ideas of the inevitability and the impartiality of death. The concept probably gained momentum in the late Middle Ages as a result of the obsession with death inspired by an epidemic of the Black Death in the mid-14th century and the devastation of the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) between France and England. The mime dance and the morality play undoubtedly contributed to the development of its form.

      The earliest known example of the fully developed dance of death concept is a series of paintings (1424–25) formerly in the Cimetière des Innocents in Paris. In this series the whole hierarchy of church and state formed a stately dance, the living alternating with skeletons or corpses escorting them to their destination. The work was a stern reminder of the imminence of death and a summons to repentance. The Paris danse macabre was destroyed in 1699, but a reproduction or free rendering can be seen in the woodcuts of the Paris printer Guy Marchant (1485), and the explanatory verses have been preserved.

      All other picture cycles on the theme were derived directly or indirectly from that of the Innocents. The dance of death frequently appears in friezes decorating the cloisters of monasteries (the open courtyards of which usually contained cemeteries) and the naves of churches. There are also numerous German woodcut versions. In 1523–26 the German artist Hans Holbein (Holbein, Hans, the Younger) the Younger made a series of drawings of the subject, perhaps the culminating point in the pictorial evolution of the dance of death, which were engraved by the German Hans Lützelburger and published at Lyon in 1538. Holbein's procession is divided into separate scenes depicting the skeletal figure of death surprising his victims in the midst of their daily life. Apart from a few isolated mural paintings in northern Italy, the theme did not become popular south of the Alps.

      The proliferation of literary versions of the dance of death included a Spanish masterpiece, the poem “La danza general de la muerte,” which was inspired by the verses at the Innocents and by several German poems. Late Renaissance literature contains references to the theme in varied contexts.

      In music the dance of death was performed frequently in compositions associated with death. Mimed representations were performed in Germany, France, Flanders, and the Netherlands, and the music of one German Totentanz (“dance of death”) has survived from the early 16th century.

      The concept of the dance of death lost its awesome hold in the Renaissance, but the universality of the theme inspired its revival in French 19th-century Romantic literature and in 19th- and 20th-century music. In 1957 it was effectively used as the visual climax of Ingmar Bergman (Bergman, Ingmar)'s motion picture The Seventh Seal.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Death, Dance of — • Originally a species of spectacular play akin to the English moralities. It has been traced back to the middle of the fourteenth century Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006 …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Human the Death Dance — Infobox Album Name = Human the Death Dance Type = Album Longtype = Artist = Sage Francis Released = May 8, 2007 Recorded = Genre = Hip Hop Length = Label = Epitaph Records Producer = Odd Nosdam, Mr. Cooper, Buck 65, Mark Isham, Big Cats!, Alias,… …   Wikipedia

  • Human the Death Dance Instrumentals — Composed of instrumentals for the Sage Francis album Human the Death Dance , this CD was sent out with all Human the Death Dance pre orders placed before 5:00 PM on April 23, 2007 from the online store of Francis record label, Strange Famous… …   Wikipedia

  • Dance of Death — • Originally a species of spectacular play akin to the English moralities. It has been traced back to the middle of the fourteenth century Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Dance of Death     Dance of Death …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Dance of Death (disambiguation) — Dance of Death commonly refers to the Danse Macabre, a late medieval allegory of the universality of death. Dance of Death or The Dance of Death may also refer to: In theatre and film: The Dance of Death (play), a 1900 play by August Strindberg… …   Wikipedia

  • Dance Of Death — Album par Iron Maiden Sortie 8 septembre 2003 Enregistrement novembre 2002 août 2003 aux Sarm Studios (West), Londres Durée 68 min 5 s Genre(s) …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Dance of death — Album par Iron Maiden Sortie 8 septembre 2003 Enregistrement novembre 2002 août 2003 aux Sarm Studios (West), Londres Durée 68 min 5 s Genre(s) …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Dance Club Massacre — Origin Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Genres See musical style section Years active 2004–present Labels Black Market A …   Wikipedia

  • Dance of the Dead — may refer to: Danse Macabre, a late medieval allegory on the universality of death Dance of the Dead (film), a 2008 American horror film Dance of the Dead (Ravenloft novel), a Dungeons Dragons tie in novel Dance of the Dead (Masters of Horror),… …   Wikipedia

  • dance, Western — Introduction       history of Western dance from ancient times to the present and including the development of ballet, the waltz, and various types of modern dance.       The peoples of the West of Europe and of the countries founded through… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”