Jaren Hinckley

AND

I’m Listening to Everything Composed by Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

Well, I’ve spent the past three weeks sharing music that quotes the “Dies Irae” (in honor of Halloween) and so today, I’m going to share a few non-classical examples and then one of the most famous classical pieces that uses it.

First off, from the world of musical theatre, the opening number in Stephen Sondheim’s amazing work “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”  Here it is (you’ll need to skip ahead on the video to 2:24):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUH3z3eBQxE

Now, you may wonder where the Dies Irae was.  I’ll tell you.  Sondheim wanted this opening piece (and indeed, the entire musical) to have a feeling of dread and doom.  So he fragmented and “hid” the Dies Irae in the opening number.  Here’s how it works:

Dies Irae (Sondheim leaves off the first syllable and quotes just the “-es irae, Dies illa”).  The notes used for “-es irae, Dies illa” are then used for the words “the tale of Sweeney Todd” in “Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd.”  Here it is back and forth between the two of them:

In addition to these three notes, Sondheim continues to use similar intervals to reinforce the connection.

Now from the world of rap music, here is an excerpt from Nelly’s “Air Force Ones.”  It’s essentially a rap song all about the kind of shoes he wants to buy.  Even if you can’t catch all the words, you’ll probably recognize the first four notes of the Dies Irae.  It’s when they sing “Give me two pair, I need two pair” (pronounced “per”) that you’ll hear the Dies Irae.

And here it is, juxtaposed with the plainchant back to forth.

Next, we move to the world of film music with a song from Tim Burton’s (Disney’s) “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (music by Danny Elfman).  It’s called “Making Christmas” and I don’t even need to show you where the Dies Irae is in this one—you’ll recognize the first four notes of the Dies Irae occur constantly throughout the song.  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyeHlZ_kPtU

Finally, our classical example of the week…

Since you’ve now had a full month on the “Dies Irae” I don’t really need to give any intro or prep for Franz Liszt’s masterwork for piano and orchestra, “Totentanz” (Death Dance).  Enjoy!  And have a great Halloween full of dread and the “Dies Irae!”  (The video quality is not great, but it’s an excellent performance.)

Part one:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqCEhmqsSnY

Part two:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bqmWU7SSJM