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Dance of Death, also variously called Danse Macabre (French), Danza Macabra (Italian and Spanish), or Totentanz (German), is a late-medieval
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
 allegory
Allegory

Allegory is generally treated as a figure of rhetoric, but an allegory does not have to be expressed in language: it may be addressed to the eye, and is often found in realistic painting, sculpture or some other form of Mimesis, or representative art....
 on the universality of death
Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a life organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby....
: no matter one's station in life, the dance of death unites all.






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Holbein Death
Dance of Death, also variously called Danse Macabre (French), Danza Macabra (Italian and Spanish), or Totentanz (German), is a late-medieval
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
 allegory
Allegory

Allegory is generally treated as a figure of rhetoric, but an allegory does not have to be expressed in language: it may be addressed to the eye, and is often found in realistic painting, sculpture or some other form of Mimesis, or representative art....
 on the universality of death
Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a life organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby....
: no matter one's station in life, the dance of death unites all. La Danse Macabre consists of the personified death leading a row of dancing figures from all walks of life to the grave
Grave (burial)

A grave is a place where a dead body is burial. The grave is usually in a graveyard or cemetery.Graves may contain objects that provide clues for archaeology about the life and culture of the time....
, typically with an emperor
Emperor

An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress is the female equivalent. As a title, "empress" may indicate the wife of an emperor or a woman who rules in her own right ....
, king, youngster, and beautiful girl—all skeletal
Skeleton

In biology, a skeleton is a rigid framework that provides protection and structure in many types of animal, particularly those of the phylum Chordata and of the superphylum Ecdysozoa....
. They were produced to remind people of how fragile their lives and how vain the glories of earthly life
Personal life

File:Roscheid Hunsr?ckhaus innen.jpgPersonal life is the course of an individual human's life, especially when viewed as the sum of personal choices contributing to one's Identity ....
 were. Its origins are postulated from illustrated sermon texts; the earliest artistic examples are in a cemetery in Paris from 1424.

Paintings

Thetriumphofdeath
The earliest artistic example is from the fresco
Fresco

Fresco is any of several related painting types, done on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Italian word affresco which derives from the adjective fresco , which has Latin origins....
ed cemetery of the Church of the Holy Innocents
Church of the Holy Innocents

Church of the Holy Innocents may refer to:* Holy Innocents' Episcopal Church * Church of the Holy Innocents * Church of the Holy Innocents ...
 in Paris (1424). There are also works by Konrad Witz
Konrad Witz

Konrad Witz was a German painter, active mainly in Basel, Switzerland.Witz is most famous for painting three altarpieces, all of which survive only partially....
, in Basel
Basel

Basel is Switzerland's third most populous city . With 731,000 inhabitants in the tri-national metropolitan area , Basel is Switzerland's third-largest urban area....
 (1440); Bernt Notke
Bernt Notke

was the most important German painter and sculptor in Northern Europe in his times.Most famous is his sculpture St. George and the Dragon for the Storkyrkan in Stockholms Gamla stan....
, in Lübeck
Lübeck

L?beck is the second largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage is on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites....
 (1463); and woodcuts designed by Hans Holbein the Younger
Hans Holbein the Younger

Hans Holbein the Younger was a Germans artist and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style. He is best known as one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century....
 and executed by Hans Lützelburger
Hans Lützelburger

File:L?tzelburger Hohlbein K?mpfende Bauern.jpgFile:The Abbot, from The Dance of Death, by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpgHans L?tzelburger , also known as Hans Franck, was a Germany blockcutter for woodcuts, regarded as one of the finest of his day....
 (1538).

The deathly horrors of the 14th century—such as recurring famines; the Hundred Years' War
Hundred Years' War

The Hundred Years' War was a prolonged conflict lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne, which was vacant with the extinction of the senior House of Capet line of French kings....
 in France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
; and, most of all, the Black Death
Black Death

The Black Death, was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, widely thought to have been caused by a bacterium named Yersinia pestis , but recently attributed by some factors to other diseases....
—were culturally digested 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: similar to the popular mediaeval mystery plays, the dance-with-death allegory
Allegory

Allegory is generally treated as a figure of rhetoric, but an allegory does not have to be expressed in language: it may be addressed to the eye, and is often found in realistic painting, sculpture or some other form of Mimesis, or representative art....
 was originally a didactic play to remind people of the inevitability of death and to advise them strongly to be prepared all times for death (see memento mori
Memento mori

Memento mori is a list of Latin phrases meaning "Be mindful of death" and may be translated as "Remember that you are mortal," "Remember you will die," "Remember that you must die," or "Remember your death"....
 and Ars moriendi
Ars moriendi

Ars moriendi is the name of two related Latin texts dating from about 1415 and 1450 which offer advice on the protocols and procedures of a good death and on how to "die well", according to Christianity precepts of the late Middle Ages....
).

The earliest examples of such plays, which consisted of short dialogues between Death and each of its victims, can be found in the direct aftermath of the Black Death in Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 (where it was known as the Totentanz, and in Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 as la Danza de la Muerte). The French term danse macabre most likely derives from Latin Chorea Machabæorum, literally "dance of the Maccabees." 2 Maccabees
2 Maccabees

2 Maccabees is a deuterocanonical books book of the Bible which focuses on the Jews' revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes and concludes with the defeat of the Syrian general Nicanor in 161 BC by Judas Maccabeus, the hero of the work....
, a deuterocanonical book of the Bible
Bible

The Bible is the central religious text of Judaism and Christianity. The exact Books of the Bible is dependent on the religious traditions of specific denominations....
 in which the grim martyrdom of a mother and her seven sons is described, 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. Both the play and the evolving paintings were ostensive penitential sermons that even illiterate people (who were the overwhelming majority) could understand.

Furthermore, church frescoes dealing with death had a long tradition and were widespread; e.g., the legend of the three men and the three dead: on a ride, three young gentlemen meet the skeletal remains of three of their ancestors who warn them, Quod fuimus, estis; quod sumus, vos eritis (What we were, you are; what we are, you will be). Numerous if often simple fresco versions of that legend from the 13th century onwards have survived (for instance, in the hospital church of Wismar
Wismar

Wismar is a small port and Hanseatic League town in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,about 45 km due east of L?beck, and 30 km due north of Schwerin....
). Since they showed pictorial sequences of men and skeletons covered with shrouds, those paintings can be regarded as cultural precursors of the new genre.

A danse macabre painting normally shows a round dance headed by Death. From the highest ranks of the mediaeval hierarchy (usually pope
Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
 and emperor
Emperor

An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress is the female equivalent. As a title, "empress" may indicate the wife of an emperor or a woman who rules in her own right ....
) 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 in Lübeck
Lübeck

L?beck is the second largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage is on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites....
’s Marienkirche (destroyed by an Allied bomb raid in WW II) presented Death as very lively and agile, making the impression that the skeletons were actually dancing, whereas their 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 Metzin, for example, shows how a pope crowned with his tiara is being led into hell by the dancing Death.

Generally, a short dialogue is attached to each victim, in which Death is summoning him or her to dance and the summoned is moaning about the near-death. In the first printed Totentanz textbook (Anon.: Vierzeiliger oberdeutscher Totentanz, Heidelberger Blockbuch, approx. 1460), Death addresses, for example, the emperor:

Her keyser euch hilft nicht das swert
Czeptir vnd crone sint hy nicht wert
Ich habe euch bey der hand genomen
Ir must an meynen reyen komen
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 bottom end of the Totentanz, Death calls, for example, the peasant to dance, and he answers:

Ich habe gehabt [vil arbeit gross]
Der sweis mir du[rch die haut floss]
Noch wolde ich ger[n dem tod empfliehen]
Zo habe ich des glu[cks nit hie]


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


Bernt Notke Danse Macabre

Printing


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
  • Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns
    Camille Saint-Saëns

    Charles-Camille Saint-Sa?ns was a French composer, organist, Conductor , and pianist, known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse Macabre , Samson and Delilah , Havanaise , Introduction and Rondo capriccioso , and his Symphony No....
    , 1874
  • Mattasin oder Toden Tanz, 1598, by August Nörmiger
  • Totentanz
    Totentanz (Liszt)

    Totentanz. Paraphrase on "Dies irae." , List of compositions by Franz Liszt , is the name of a symphonic piece for solo piano and orchestra by Franz Liszt, which is notable for being based on the Gregorian plainchant melody Dies Irae as well as for daring stylistic innovations....
     by Franz Liszt
    Franz Liszt

    Franz Liszt was a Kingdom of Hungary composer, virtuoso pianist and teacher.Liszt became renowned throughout Europe for his great skill as a performer during the 19th century....
    , 1849, a set of variations based on the plainchant melody "Dies Irae
    Dies Irae

    Dies Irae is a famous thirteenth century Latin hymn thought to be written by Tommaso da Celano. It is a medieval Latin poem, differing from classical Latin by its accentual stress and its rhymed lines....
    ."
  • ????? ? ?????? ?????? (Songs and Dances of Death
    Songs and Dances of Death

    Songs and Dances of Death is a song cycle for voice and piano by Modest Mussorgsky, written in the mid-1870s, to poems by Arseny Golenishchev-Kutuzov, a relative of the composer....
    ), 1875–77, by Modest Mussorgsky
    Modest Mussorgsky

    Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky , one of the Russian composers known as the Five, was an innovator of Music of Russia. He strove to achieve a uniquely Russian musical identity, often in deliberate defiance of the established conventions of Western music....
  • Symphony No. 4
    Symphony No. 4 (Mahler)

    The Symphony No. 4 in G major by Gustav Mahler was written between 1899 and 1901. The four-movement orchestral work features a solo soprano in the finale....
    , 2nd Movement, 1901, by Gustav Mahler
    Gustav Mahler

    Gustav Mahler was a Bohemian-born Austrian composer and conducting. He was best known during his own lifetime as one of the leading orchestral and operatic conductors of the day....
  • Totentanz, Oratorium, 1905, by Felix Woyrsch
    Felix Woyrsch

    Felix Woyrsch was a German composer and choir director.Woyrsch lived in Dresden and Hamburg while young, studying in the latter under Ernst August Heinrich Chevallier....
  • Totentanz der Prinzipien, 1914, by Arnold Schoenberg
    Arnold Schoenberg

    Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian and later American composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School....
  • Ein Totentanz (Dance of Death), Op. 37, for piano and orchestra, 1931, by Wilhelm Kempff
    Wilhelm Kempff

    Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff was a world-renowned Germany virtuoso pianist and composer. Although his repertory included Bach, Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well-known for his interpretations of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert, both of whose complete sonatas he recorded at least once....
  • The Green Table
    The Green Table

    The Green Table is the masterpiece of German choreographer Kurt Jooss, and his most popular work, depicting the futility of peacemaking of the 1930's....
     (Der grüne Tisch), 1932, ballet by Kurt Jooss
    Kurt Jooss

    Kurt Jooss was a Germany modern dancer and choreographer mixing classical ballet with theatre; he is also widely regarded as the founder of Dance Theatre or Tanztheater....
  • Scherzo (Dance of Death), Op.14, in "Ballad of Heroes," 1939, by Benjamin Britten
    Benjamin Britten

    Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, Order of Merit Order of the Companions of Honour was an England composer, conducting, viola and pianist....
  • Trio in E minor, Op. 67, 4th movement, "Dance of Death," 1944, by Dmitri Shostakovich
    Dmitri Shostakovich

    Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a List of Russian composers of the Soviet Union period.After a period influenced by Sergei Prokofiev and Igor Stravinsky , Shostakovich developed a hybrid of styles as exemplified in his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District ....
  • Totentanz, Der Kaiser von Atlantis
    Der Kaiser von Atlantis

    Der Kaiser von Atlantis, oder Die Tod-Verweigerung is a one-act opera by Viktor Ullmann with a libretto by Peter Kien. Both Ullmann and Kien were inmates at the Nazi concentration camp of Theresienstadt concentration camp, where they collaborated on the opera, around the year 1943....
    , 1944, by Viktor Ullmann
    Viktor Ullmann

    Viktor Ullmann was an Austrian composer, conductor and pianist....
  • Zombie Jamboree
    Jumbie Jamberee

    Jumbie Jamberee is a Calypso music song written by Lord Intruder . In 1953 Lord Intruder released the song as the B-side to Disaster With Police....
    , 1958, by the Kingston Trio, which they state is based upon a theme by Goethe involving the dance of the dead. The song had been originally performed by a number of Calypso
    Calypso music

    Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music which originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the beginning of the 20th century....
     artists.
  • Dance of Death, 1964, by John Fahey
    John Fahey (musician)

    John Fahey was an United States fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the self-taught nature of his art....
    , a finger-style guitar solo in G minor tuning. An excerpt was used in the film Zabriskie Point
    Zabriskie Point

    Zabriskie Point is a part of Amargosa Range located in Death Valley National Park in the United States noted for its erosional landscape. It is composed of sediments from Furnace Creek Lake, which dried up 5 million years ago ? long before Death Valley came into existence....
    .
  • Dance with Death, 1968, by Andrew Hill
    Andrew Hill

    Andrew Hill was an United States jazz pianist and composer.Hill is recognized as one the most important progenitors of Free jazz piano, though he is considered more mainstream jazz than Cecil Taylor, who is two years older than Hill....
  • Black Angels
    Black Angels (Crumb)

    Black Angels , subtitled "Thirteen Images from the Dark Land" is an avant-garde work composed by George Crumb for "electric string quartet." It was composed over the course of a year and is dated "Friday the Thirteenth, March 1970 " as written on the score....
    , 1971, by George Crumb
    George Crumb

    George Crumb is an American composer of modern and avant-garde music. He is noted as an explorer of unusual timbres and extended technique. Examples include spoken flute and glass marbles poured onto an open piano....
    . Contains a danse macabre at the end of part one, "Departure."
  • Dancing with Mr. D
    Dancing with Mr. D

    "Dancing with Mr. D" is the opening track to rock and roll band the Rolling Stones' 1973 album Goats Head Soup.Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "Dancing with Mr....
    , 1973, by the Rolling Stones
  • Ballo in Fa diesis minore (Fm), 1977, by Angelo Branduardi
    Angelo Branduardi

    Angelo Branduardi , is an Italy pop singer and composer who scored relevant success in Italy and European countries such as France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands....
  • Danse Macabre, 1984, by Celtic Frost
    Celtic Frost

    Celtic Frost was an influential avant-garde metal band from Z?rich, Switzerland. They are known for their heavy influence on the extreme metal and gothic metal genres....
  • Totentanz, 1987, by Coroner
    Coroner (band)

    Coroner was a Switzerland thrash metal band from Zurich. They garnered relatively little attention outside of Europe. They combined elements of Thrash metal, progressive rock, jazz, and industrial metal with suitably gruff vocals that have put them at times in a death metal camp....
  • Danse Macabre, 1994, by Symphony X
    Symphony X

    Symphony X is an American progressive metal band founded in New Jersey in 1994 by guitarist Michael Romeo. Their 1997 album The Divine Wings of Tragedy and their 2000 release V-The New Mythology Suite have given the band considerable attention within the progressive metal community....
  • Totentanz, 1996, by In Extremo
    In Extremo

    "In Extremo" is a Germany medieval metal band originating from Berlin. The band's musical style combines metal with medieval traditional songs, blending the sound of the standard rock/metal instruments with historical instruments ....
  • Danse macabre, 1996, by Jaromir Nohavica
    Jaromír Nohavica

    Jarom?r Nohavica or Jarek Nohavica is a Czechs songwriter, lyricist, and poet.He was born in Ostrava and has played guitar since he was 13....
  • La Danse Macabre, 1996, by Memento Mori
    Memento mori

    Memento mori is a list of Latin phrases meaning "Be mindful of death" and may be translated as "Remember that you are mortal," "Remember you will die," "Remember that you must die," or "Remember your death"....
  • The Danse Macabre, 1997, by Hecate Enthroned
    Hecate Enthroned

    Hecate Enthroned are a symphonic black metal band from Cheshire, England....
  • Danzon Macabre, 1999, by Kennan Wylie (marching percussion feature)
  • Danse Macabre, 2000, by Decapitated
    Decapitated

    Decapitated is a technical death metal band from Poland.They formed in 1996 in Krosno in southern Poland, when all the members were still attending music school....
  • Danse Macabre
    Danse Macabre (album)

    Danse Macabre is the third studio album by the Omaha based New Wave music band The Faint. It was released on August 21, 2001 in the U.S. and roughly a year later in the UK, where it has enjoyed similar popularity....
    , 2001, by The Faint
    The Faint

    The Faint is a dance-punk/new wave music band. Formed in Omaha, Nebraska, the band consists of Todd Fink, Jacob Thiele, Dapose, Joel Petersen and Clark Baechle....
  • La Grande Danse Macabre, 2001, by Marduk
    Marduk (band)

    Marduk is a black metal band from Norrk?ping, Sweden. The band formed in 1991 and released their first record that year, placing them among the pioneers of Swedish black metal....
  • Dance Macabre, 2002, by Cradle of Filth
    Cradle of Filth

    Cradle of Filth are an extreme metal band from Suffolk, England, formed in 1991. They have been embraced and disowned with equal fervour by various metal communities, and their particular subgenre has provoked a Cradle of Filth#Genre....
  • La Danse Macabre du Vampire, 2002, by Theatres des Vampires
    Theatres des Vampires

    Theatres des Vampires is an Italian Gothic metal band with strong black metal influences, mostly noted for the predominant theme of vampirism within their lyrics....
    , a track of Suicide Vampire
    Suicide Vampire

    Suicide Vampire is the fourth album from the Italy symphonic black metal band Theatres des Vampires....
  • Der makabere tanze des vampires, 2002, by Theatres des Vampires
    Theatres des Vampires

    Theatres des Vampires is an Italian Gothic metal band with strong black metal influences, mostly noted for the predominant theme of vampirism within their lyrics....
    , a bonus track of Suicide Vampire
    Suicide Vampire

    Suicide Vampire is the fourth album from the Italy symphonic black metal band Theatres des Vampires....
     in German
  • Dance of Death
    Dance of Death (album)

    Dance of Death is Iron Maiden's 13th studio album, released first in Japan on September 2 and rest of the world on September 8, 2003.This album marks the first participation in songwriting by Nicko McBrain, who co-wrote the song "New Frontier" and also is the first time that all members of the band get a songwriting credit....
    , 2003, by Iron Maiden
    Iron Maiden

    Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music band from Leyton, East London, England, formed in 1975. The band is led by founder, bassist and songwriter Steve Harris ....
  • Kuolon Tanssi, 2003, by Catamenia
    Catamenia

    Catamenia is a melodic black metal band from Finland, founded in 1995 by original members Riku Hopeakoski and Mika T?nning in Oulu. They have been signed to Massacre Records ever since their first full-length, Halls of Frozen North in 1998....
  • Danse Macabre (???????), 2004, by Plastic Tree
    Plastic Tree

    Plastic Tree is a Japanese Rock music band that formed in late 1993 in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. They released their first mini-album in December of 1995 and in 1997 , they debuted by releasing their first single on a major label....
  • Danse Macabre, 2005, by Wintersleep
    Wintersleep

    Wintersleep is a Juno Award-winning Canada indie rock band from Halifax Urban Area, Nova Scotia....
  • Danse Macabre, 2007, by illScarlett
    IllScarlett

    IllScarlett is a four-member, RIAA_certification selling, Juno Award-nominated band from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. They recently released their second major studio album All Day With It following the success of their EP EPdemic....
  • Danse Macabre, 2007, by Blood (band)
    Blood (band)

    Blood was a Japanese band that was active between 2002 and 2009. Blood's aim was to create music that expresses the meaning of human emotion that breaks the musical frame....


See also

  • Ars moriendi
    Ars moriendi

    Ars moriendi is the name of two related Latin texts dating from about 1415 and 1450 which offer advice on the protocols and procedures of a good death and on how to "die well", according to Christianity precepts of the late Middle Ages....
  • Memento mori
    Memento mori

    Memento mori is a list of Latin phrases meaning "Be mindful of death" and may be translated as "Remember that you are mortal," "Remember you will die," "Remember that you must die," or "Remember your death"....
  • Vanitas
    Vanitas

    In the arts, vanitas is a type of symbol still life painting commonly executed by Northern European Paintings in Flanders and the Netherlands in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries....
  • Macabre
    MACABRE

    Macabre is the second studio album released by Dir en grey on September 20, 2000. It is the band's first record to be released in collaboration of Free-Will's Firewall sub-division and Sony Music Entertainment Japan....
  • Death (Tarot card)
    Death (Tarot card)

    Death is the thirteenth trump card or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks.It is used in Tarot card games as well as in Tarot reading....
  • Skeleton (undead)
    Skeleton (undead)

    A Skeleton is a type of physically manifested undead often found in fantasy, Gothic fiction and horror fiction, and mythology art. Most are human skeletons, but they can also be from any creature or race found on Earth or in the fantasy world....
  • The Skeleton Dance
    The Skeleton Dance

    The Skeleton Dance is a 1929 in film Silly Symphonies animated short subject produced and directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks....
  • Dancing mania
    Dancing mania

    Dancing mania was a social phenomenon that occurred primarily in mainland Europe between the 14th and 18th centuries; it involved groups of people, sometimes thousands at a time, who danced uncontrollably and bizarrely, seemingly Demonic possession....
  • The Seventh Seal
    The Seventh Seal

    The Seventh Seal is an existentialism 1957 in film Sweden film directed by Ingmar Bergman about the journey of a medieval knight across a pestilence-ridden landscape, and a monumental game of chess between himself and the personification of Death , who has come to take his life....

External links

  • at Cornell's The Fantastic in Art and Fiction