Humanity has always cultivated an unquenchable affinity with all things otherworldly and supernatural. We are equally terrified and fascinated by it at the same time; dissuaded but inspired. Many literary masters and great composers in history have drawn profound inspiration from the ethereal. French composer Camille Saint-Saëns' Danse Macarbre and Hector Berlioz's Symphony Fantastique are two such compositions that revolve around the central concept of the supernatural. The pieces contrast in their musical representation and programmatic representation of death and the supernatural. Where Berlioz's March to the Gallows presents the matter as a serious, dark and sinister experience, Danse Macarbe, while still dark and frightening, is much more jovial and turbulent in its depiction of the supernatural.Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic composer. Not a musical prodigy, nor professionally trained in any instrument, Berlioz was a self-directed learner and studied guitar and flute from books. He was sent to Paris to study medicine at the age of eighteen, but began to feel repelled by the medical profession after witnessing the dissection of a human corpse. He moved away from that career path and took advantage of the many musical institutions he now had access to in the city. Berlioz became a prolific composer, writing fifty pieces; among these the most appreciated is the Symphonie Fantastique. This piece is still recognized as one of the most important and representative pieces of the early Romantic period. Composed of five movements, Sypmphonie Fantastique is a program piece of music composed for 2 flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes (2nd doubling English horn), 2 clari...... center of paper ..... .aves Once more and peace is established throughout the city of Paris... until next year! While both pieces depict death as fractious and sinister, March to the Scaffold has an air of certain doom that makes it decidedly darker than Danse Macarbe. The march to the gallows instills in the listener a sense of ceremony and a reserved respect for death, as the central character makes a solemn procession towards his impending death. Danse Macarbe strikes the listener as more of a dark celebration of death; disturbing but nothing malevolent or inherently evil. There's something inherently funny about the idea of ​​skeletons engaged in a frenetic jive, led by the furious fiddling of the grim reaper. Both pieces depict death as dark and sinister, but one is more solemn and somber in its interpretation, while the other is more fantastical and humorous in its interpretation..