How the ‘Dies Irae’ Chant from 600AD Found Its Way into ‘Star Wars’, ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Exorcist’

CBC Radio 2, hosted by Tom Allen, has put together a fantastic look at how the medievel chant, “Dies Irae” (meaning the song of death) has wormed its way from 600 AD into the films of today including John Williams‘ score for Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Dimitri Tiomkin‘s score for Frank Capra‘s It’s a Wonderful Life, Howard Shore‘s score for The Lord of the Rings and even inspired Mike Oldfield‘s “Tubular Bells”, which are heard at the beginning of William Friedkin‘s The Exorcist.

The following video takes you through the history of the chant from its beginnings to Hector Berlioz‘s 1820 “Symphonie Fantastique” and Sergei Rachmaninoff‘s 1940 “Symphonic Dances”. Even Hans Zimmer‘s score for Disney’s The Lion King makes an appearance.

Check out the video below.

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One of the world’s oldest songs isn’t about love, sex or even power. It’s about death.

Dies Irae, the song of death, is a medieval chant that warns of an apocalyptic day of wrath, and has been used as the soundtrack to the end of life for 40 human generations — from the dark ages to Star Wars and The Lion King.

Join CBC Radio 2 host Tom Allen, along with three harps, a bassoon, a tuba, two pianos, lots of percussion and four singing monks, as he winds his way through the labyrinthine halls of the Bishop Strachan School in Toronto to bring us the history of one of the world’s oldest songs.

[via FilmakerIQ]

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