A Musical History Of Death: 'Exit Music' by Tom Allen

Star Wars was all about the future but the music behind that famous scene you just saw the tune at the very end it goes back to the very beginning of musical time it's the da zero the medieval chant for the dead it's at least 1300 years old probably more a musical depiction of the day of wrath when all souls will be judged for their time on earth in Western musical terms it is truly the song of death the Daz returns up here and there through music history but in the 19th century after the Industrial Revolution drove thousands into the cold and grime of European cities and pollution blacked out the Sun the song of death suddenly sprung to life and started turning up all over the place like in Hector Berlioz symphonie fantastique the Daz ray also appears in almost everything written by the great Russian romantic Sergei Rachmaninoff Rachmaninoff wrote that his symphonic dances in 1940 just before his own death he was living oddly enough at the time in Beverly Hills along with flocks of other European composers who'd escaped the war and the death camps to come to America one of those was Dmitri chunkin' who started as a classical pianist but ended up as a film score composer he wrote the music behind Frank Capra's 1942 classic It's a Wonderful Life hurt bad heavy current you wouldn't think that a family favorite feel-good movie like that but find a place for the song of death but there it is just as it is in Howard Shores music to the Lord of the Rings even Disney doesn't get a pass on this one because the Daz ray turns up believe it or not in the Lion King kill him Medina's area is also part of what made Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells the greatest selling instrumental recording in history and the perfect choice for the opening music to the 1973 horror classic The Exorcist so you might be wondering who gets the composer credit for this little tune that's done so well church history says that Pope Gregory the Great wrote down the D isère II in the 6th century as it was dictated to him by a white dove carrying the musical voice of God himself so who wrote the song of death that's right God did now you can believe that or not but considering this little tune has so far survived 40 human generations and is only now just beginning to show its true power and momentum it's worth remembering that no matter who wrote it we all have to sing it eventually how do you pick a video like this you know where it comes from it comes from the idea and one of the ideas that came up was you

Channel: CBC Music

Views: 205,336

Keywords: cbc music, cbcmusic, cbc, canada, dies irae, lord of the rings, lotr, howard shore, fellowship of the ring, star wars, rogue one, the force awakens, lord of the rings 15th, lord of the rings anniversary, disney music, two towers, return of the king, lord of the rings score, lord of the rings soundtrack

Id: dLgvKwOYniY

Length: 6min 6sec (366 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 17 2014