We–rightfully–think of film as a visual media. But the truth is music plays a bigger role than you might realize. That’s why so many directors choose to include classical music as a way to bring their film to the next level.
Whether it’s a bright, happy piece played over a scene of tragedy, or a driving march puncuating an action sequence, classical music in movies often result in iconic combinations.
Here’s some of our favourite examples.
Raging Bull – Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana (Pietro Mascagni)
Robert De Niro’s portrayal of boxer Jake LaMotta in 1980’s Raging Bull was celebrated for its realistic representation of the incredible physicality of boxing side-by-side with the tragedy of LaMotta. Mascagni’s Intermezzo is originally from his one-act opera Cavelleria Rusticana, written in 1889. The music’s passion and intensity mirror the film’s themes closely, making it an idea fit for the opening credits.
Director Martin Scorsese is known for using pop music appropriate for the time and location of his films, so choosing a major piece of opera music for this movie was a gamble–one that has left its mark on cinema history.
Apocalypse Now – Flight of the Valkyries (Richard Wagner)
While undoubtedly iconic in its own right, there’s no denying that Wagner’s Flight of the Valkyries is best known for it’s use by Francis Ford Coppola in the Vietnam War epic, Apocalypse Now. Originally from the beginning of the third act of Die Walküre, the second of four operas in Wagner’s Ring Cycle. But in the film, as helicopters prepare for an attack, Robert Duvall, playing war-loving Lt. Co. William Kilgore, gives the order for the music to be played. What follows is a surreal moment of violence made such largely by Coppola’s choice in music.
This combination of music and visuals has become so iconic that most of the time Flight of the Valkyries appears in modern pop culture, it is in reference to Apocalypse Now.
The King’s Speech – Symphony No. 7 (Ludwig van Beethoven)
Colin Firth’s portrayal of King George VI and his struggle with a stutter helped launch The King’s Speech to winning an Academy Award. In this scene, World War II has officially begun, and, as king, he is called upon to make a live radio speech to the entire British Empire. The upward swing of the second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 perfectly matches the swell and motion of this important moment. As he finds his voice and his pace, he becomes more confident, verging into passionate, and the music grows in intensity to match.
Die Hard – Symphony No. 9 – “Ode to Joy” (Ludwig van Beethoven)
It’s Christmas, 1988, and there’s a terrorist heist going down at Nakatomi Tower. The late Alan Rickman’s German villain Hans Gruber is appropriately scored with a bit of Beethoven throughout the film, but composer Michael Kamen, who scored the entire film, saved the most famous bit of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony for a pivotal moment, and created an iconic scene.
As the vault opens, giving the bad guys access to the money they’ve sought the whole film, the music builds slowly from solo cellos. Gruber and his men look on as the door slides away and the music swells to the entire orchestra (performed here by the Hollywood Studio Symphony). The Beethoven pauses only briefly, to allow for a festive bell or two, to remind us that this is a Christmas movie, and as far as the bad guys are concerned, they just witenessed a miracle.
The Shawshank Redemption – Sull’aria – The Marriage of Figaro (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
Five years into a life sentence for a crime he didn’t commit, Andy Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins, leafs through a box of LPs from the prison library. The lifts one out–Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro–removes it from its sleeve, and blows the dust from it. The the guard otherwise occupied, Andy sees–and seizes– this opportunity. He locks the doors, put the record on the turntable, and lifts the prison’s PA microphone towards the record player. For a brief moment, as Morgan Freeman’s character Red says, every man in that prison felt free.
It’s a moment of rebellion–an act of freedom– symbolized with a gentle and renowned piece of classical music.
Up – Habanera (George Bizet)
Following the incredibly tragic opening sequence of Up, in which the audiences watched Carl and Ellie’s love filled life, this scene shows us Carl’s routine after Ellie’s passing. He’s grouchy, curmudgeonly, and stubborn, living the same day over and over.
In stark contrast to the visuals, an instrumental version of “L’amore est un oiseau rebelle” by George Bizet bops along. The juxtaposition comes from the origin of the piece, which depicts love as free and changing as a bird, coupled with Carl’s refusal–or inability–to change and move on with his own life.
2001: A Space Odyssey – Also sprach Zarathustra (Richard Stauss)
If there is a single pairing of classical music with film that is more iconic, referenced, and parodied than Apocalypse Now and Flight of the Valkyries, it is definitely 2001: A Space Odyssey and Also sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss. This tone poem plays over the opening credits of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, as the sun rises over Earth among the eternal darkness of space. The triumph of its town is offset by a certain sense of impending doom–perfect for the film’s themes of awe and terror, as human kind is faces with forces beyond its understanding, yet is still driven on by curiosity and invention.
The choice makes sense, especially when you consider that Also sprach Zarathustra was inspired by the philosopher Nietzsche’s novel of the same name, which echoed similar themes on human potential and transcendence.
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There are so many wonderful examples of classical music pairing perfectly with modern film, there’s no way we got them all. What’s your favourite movie scene that utilizes classical music to incredible effect?
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