Classical Hell

Classical music, in general so soothing and so enriching, can also be scary and terrifying. What nightmares came to you, child, after attending a show with men and women disguised as skeletons, dancing to the music of Danse macabre? This fascinating work, written in 1874 by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns, is probably one of the most terrifying in the classical repertoire.

But it is far from being alone! From the Baroque period, composers included the character of Lucifer, the fallen angel, in certain oratorios: this is the case for Handel in La Resurrezione. To evoke horror, the composer employs the lowest possible bass notes.

However, it is in the nineteenth century that the evocation of the devil would become a regular feature, and more and more agonizing at that. The example of the character of Mephistopheles in Faust (whether in the works of Gounod or Berlioz) is the most emblematic example. In the French grand opéra, evocations are also frequent: Robert the Devil by Meyerbeer would become – in the 1830s – one of the greatest lyric successes of all time in France.

The satanic dimension is also present in instrumental works, the evocation of the devil then referring to an almost unreal virtuosity, especially on the violin (Tartini, Paganini).