Fairy Ring

Songs and Dances of Death - Modest Mussorgsky

1. Lullaby (Колыбельная) (14 April 1875) 

A mother cradles her sick infant, who grows more feverish. Death appears, disguised as a babysitter, and rocks the infant to eternal sleep.

2. Serenade (Серенада) (11 May 1875) 

The figure of Death waits outside the window of a dying woman, in the manner of a wooing lover.

3. Trepak (Трепак) (17 February 1875) 

A drunken peasant stumbles outside into the snow and becomes caught in a blizzard. The figure of Death invites him to dance a folk-dance called the Trepak. As he freezes to death, he dreams of summer fields and doves.

4. The Field Marshal (Полководец) (5 June 1877) 

The figure of Death is depicted as an officer marshaling, illuminated by the moon, the dead troops of both armies after a dreadful and bloody battle. She tells them: in life you were enemies but now you are comrades, because you're all dead, and I am your commanding officer. She assures them that although the living will forget about them, she will remember them, and will harden the earth above them so that they cannot be resurrected.

Se conoscer mi voi mi scoprirai -  Giuseppe Maria Mitelli

Dance of Death - Hans Holbein (1523 - 1525)