Fourteenth century Cathay was a place of mystery whence no story, however horrific would seem implausible.  Travellers' tales were received with awed credulity, but gave rise to no alarm until a Flemish chronicler revealed that "In January of the year 1348 three galleys put in at Genoa driven by a fierce wind from the east, and horribly infected with the plague".

There followed a time of chaos with headlong flights from the cities; possessions abandoned and houses left open to the world; ruthless desertion of the sick; hurried, sordid burials in great communal pits; crops wasting in the fields and cattle wandering untended over the countryside.

Danse macabre juxtaposes these historical details with some of the most evocative music of the time:  music of the Ars Nova from composers such as Machaut, Landini and Jacopo da Bologna.  In much the same way as the chronicler Boccaccio, in his book Dacameron creates vivid fantasy against the stark background of te Black Death, so Danse macabre interweaves fact and music to give an illuminating glimpse into these exciting years.

Kristine Szulik