Hearing Death at the Movies: Dies Irae Deep Dive (with Alex Ludwig)

This episode is a deep dive into the Dies Irae musical motif and its evolution through film music. Here to talk about it is Dies Irae guru Alex Ludwig, who has just written a book about it! Hearing Death at the Movies: Film Music and the Long History of the Dies Irae will be out on June 11th, 2025.

Timestamps:

• 0:00 - Hello there!
• 1:52 - The seeds of Alex's Dies Irae scholarship.
• 4:40 - Hector Berlioz, Symphonie fantastique, transforming a sacred melody into a secular one.
• 12:09 - Wendy Carlos and The Shining.
• 29:05 - Silent films, Dimitri Tiomkin, vampire films.
• 30:31 - Metropolis.
• 34:59 - How was the music for silent films done?
• 39:55 - Dies Irae Typology and the "master list"
• 40:32 - Dies Irae Type 1: Prelude to Evil
• 43:55 - The Screaming Skull.
• 46:35 - Dies Irae Type 2: Ominous Echo
• 47:39 - "The Burning Homestead" from Star Wars: A New Hope.
• 51:58 - Jyn's theme (Rogue One) and subtypes.
• 1:00:12 - Columbia Pictures logo.
• 1:03:51 - Dies Irae Type 3: Tension Engine
• 1:04:54 - Mars Attacks (Type - "ostinato")
• 1:06:04 - Jurassic Park examples (Type 3 - "fortspinnung")
• 1:10:07 - Predator example.
• 1:13:01 - Morricone examples: Escalation, Fists in the Pocket, Le Trio infernal
• 1:22:10 - "The Master Switch" from Rogue One.
• 1:27:02 - Dies Irae as musical trope, meme.
• 1:34:48 - Are certain types of Dies Irae more prevalent in certain genres or eras?
• 1:41:00 - Vampire movies.
• 1:42:42 - If a composer uses Dies Irae accidentally, do you still count it?
• 1:44:52 - How to use this book.

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Alex Ludwig:

• Website: https://alex-ludwig.net
• BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/celexo.bsky.social
• Film Music Tropes (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/@celexo22
• Hearing Death at the Movies: Film Music and the Long History of the Dies Irae - https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-78795-9

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