Totentango is a short orchestral work by the British composer Matthew King

Matthew King (composer)

Matthew King is a British composer and pianist. His works include opera, piano and chamber music, choral and orchestral pieces.-Career:...

, commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra

London Symphony Orchestra

The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...

 who premiered the work in the Barbican Hall in London in February 2010. The conductor at the first performance was Pavel Kotla

Pavel Kotla

Pavel Kotla is a Polish conductor. Privately son of Ryszard Kotla.He studied at: and Oxford University .In 1997-98 he worked as the Performing Fellow at in London and artistic director of Oxford University Philharmonia;...

. The composer has said of the work:

Ever since the mysterious "dancing plague" of 1518 there has been a long tradition of pieces of music in which dancing and death find themselves in close proximity and the orchestral repertoire is littered with totentanzes and danse macabres. Totentango is my own modest attempt to engage with that tradition.

Totentango takes about 7 minutes to play. The music fuses together a plethora of dance styles in an intricate polyphony

Polyphony

In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....

 of rhythm. Tango

Tango music

Tango is a style of ballroom dance music in 2/4 or 4/4 time that originated among European immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay . It is traditionally played by a sextet, known as the orquesta típica, which includes two violins, piano, double bass, and two bandoneons...

 melodies and snatches of Viennese waltz

Viennese Waltz

Viennese Waltz is the genre of a ballroom dance. At least three different meanings are recognized. In the historically first sense, the name may refer to several versions of the waltz, including the earliest waltzes done in ballroom dancing, danced to the music of Viennese Waltz.What is now called...

 collide with habanera

Habanera (music)

The habanera is a genre of Cuban popular dance music of the 19th century. It is a creolized form which developed from the contradanza. It has a characteristic "Habanera rhythm", and is performed with sung lyrics...

 and techno

Techno

Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...

 in rapid succession as the music spirals towards obliteration. The virtuoso orchestral style contains a number of elaborate instrumental combinations whilst the lush string writing and use of muted brass is occasionally reminiscent of the film music of the 1940s. The composer Colin Matthews

Colin Matthews

Colin Matthews OBE is an English composer of classical music.-Early life and education:Matthews was born in London in 1946; his older brother is the composer David Matthews. He read classics at the University of Nottingham, and then studied composition there with Arnold Whittall, and with Nicholas...

 described the work as being "like La Valse

La Valse

La valse, un poème choréographique pour orchestre , is a work written by Maurice Ravel from February 1919 until 1920 ; it was conceived as a ballet but is now more often heard as a concert work...

 orchestrated by Bernard Hermann". Totentango embraces an almost bewildering diversity of styles and is unashamedly melodious which perhaps explains why one dissenting critic has objected to the work's being "listener friendly with a vengeance" whilst conceding that it contained "skillful scoring".