Plainchant in Motion Pictures: The "Dies irae" in Film Scores

Abstract

Several summers ago, the album Chant, a collection of plainsong performed by the monks of Santo Domingo de Silos, hit the top of the popular music charts, triggering the release and reissue of more chant albums by other groups. These included Greatest Hits—Chant, Mad About the Monks, and Chill to the Chant. In the meantime, the monks of Santo Domingo de Silos have followed up Chant with several other albums (Chant Noel, Chant II, Easter), and there is also a Chant video (see Chant, Visions, and Requiem). Though it may seem that plainchant has only just been discovered in popular culture, it has been heard for many years in film, a medium with strong ties to popular as well as "art" audiences. Some chants have become standard melodies for films, in particular the "Dies irae" from the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead. The "Dies irae" is, in fact, one of the most frequently heard chants in film, used in television theme songs, commercials, and even a Christmas film (It's a Wonderful Life). Death, danger or the supernatural are invariably part of the story or visual situation where it is used.