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

Bonus Episode

Jun 9

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.