Bound To Stay Bound

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 Saint-Saens's Danse Macabre
 Author: Celenza, Anna Harwell

 Publisher:  Charlesbridge (2013)

 Dewey: 784.2
 Classification: Nonfiction
 Physical Description: [32] p., col. ill., 26 x 26 cm. + 1 CD.

 BTSB No: 203496 ISBN: 9781570913488
 Ages: 6-9 Grades: 1-4

 Subjects:
 Saint-Saens, Camille, -- 1835-1921
 Composers

Price: $6.50

Summary:
The story behind Camille Saint-Saens's composition of Danse Macabre, a waltz of the dead featuring dancing skeletons. CD recording included.

 Illustrator: Kitchel, JoAnn E.
Accelerated Reader Information:
   Interest Level: LG
   Reading Level: 4.60
   Points: .5   Quiz: 159560

Reviews:
   Kirkus Reviews (07/15/13)
   School Library Journal (08/01/13)

Full Text Reviews:

School Library Journal - 08/01/2013 Gr 2–5—This title in the author's music-appreciation series addresses the origin of Camille Saint-Saëns's symphonic work with a description of the composer's nighttime visit to the Paris Catacombs with his friend Henri Cazalis. The musical inspiration resulted first in the form of a solo song, and later Saint-Saëns's two-year quest for the perfect instrumental sound to express dancing skeletons rising from their graves. Originally criticized, but later acclaimed, this work is explained in first-performance detail: the first violin tuned to a dissonant interval according to specific instruction in the score, other violins played on the wood of bows, and the addition of a previously little-used instrument, the xylophone. Pen and watercolor illustrations paint 19th-century Paris streets and interiors with single-dimensional faces framing an explosion of skeletal dancing forms during the description of Danse Macabre's first performance in 1875. An author's note and accompanying CD featuring the performance of Lorin Maazel and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra complete this offering with soaring strings and dissonance, a rattling xylophone, swaying woodwinds, trombones heralding the melody, and the final call of a rooster in the solo oboe-all easily apparent to readers through the author's descriptive text: "Long live the music! Long live the dance.—Mary Elam, Learning Media Services, Plano ISD, TX - Copyright 2013 Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and/or School Library Journal used with permission.

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