According to the superstition, Death appears at midnight every year on Halloween and calls forth the dead from their graves to dance for him while he plays his fiddle.
Perhaps the most recognizable adaptation of this creepy legend is the Danse macabre by the French composer Camille Saint-Saens. Originally written as an art song for voice and piano, Saint-Saens later arranged his work for full orchestra.
The opening violin solo, representing Death and his fiddle, incorporates the tritone, a jarring musical interval that has long been associated with music of the Devil.
Saint-Saens' ingenious use of the orchestra to evoke the creepy atmosphere has helped solidify the Danse macabre one of his most popular pieces