danse macabre

American  

[dahns ma-ka-br^uh] / dɑ̃s maˈka brə /

noun

1. dance of death.

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danse macabre British  

/ dɑ̃s makɑbrə /

noun

1. another name for dance of death

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Etymology

Origin of danse macabre

From French

Example Sentences

The three friends try to find their rhythm in the steps of the danse macabre she creates, even as old dance patterns of desire and friendship bring them closer to the encroaching flames.

From Los Angeles Times

The grim lyricism of Adès’s love songs and lullabies returns with another Berceuse, followed by the finale, “Waltzes,” a rhapsodic assemblage that evolves into a relentless danse macabre analogue to the opera itself.

From New York Times

This was deliberate, spaciously paced Mahler, lilting but never too sweet in its ländler second movement, its third-movement danse macabre as haunting as ever.

From New York Times

The Philharmonic played well, with an almost choked grotesquerie in the march in the first movement, an eerie danse macabre of the second and bristling unsentimentality in the third.

From New York Times

With its ingenious recastings of Russian Orthodox chants and the Catholic “Dies Irae,” this can be a grand, mesmerizingly intense score, a danse macabre written as World War II was underway.

From New York Times