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Twenty Thousand Hertz

Dies Irae: The death melody haunting Hollywood

Twenty Thousand Hertz

Dallas Taylor

Design, Music, Music Commentary, Arts

4.94.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 October 2020

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For hundreds of years, composers have been using a specific four-note melody to evoke death. It's appeared in dozens of famous movies, and you probably never even realized it. But once you hear it, you'll start noticing it everywhere. Featuring musicologist Alex Ludwig and Strong Songs Host Kirk Hamilton. Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced by Defacto Sound. Subscribe on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to see our video series. If you know what this week's mystery sound is, tell us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mystery.20k.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Support the show and get ad-free episodes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠20k.org/plus⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow Dallas on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠Facebook⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our community on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reddit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Discover more at lexus.com/curiosity. Check out Alex’s list of Dies Irae examples at alexludwig.net. Subscribe to Strong Songs where ever you get your podcasts.  Check out The Graduale Project’s Youtube page for more Latin chants.  Episode transcript, music, and credits can be found here: https://www.20k.org/episodes/diesirae Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

You're listening to 20,000 Hertz.

0:08.0

If you look up the top charting songs from a random year, maybe from 10 or 15 years ago,

0:13.5

there's a good chance that you'll recognize a few of them,

0:16.0

but you'll probably be surprised at how many songs don't even ring a bell.

0:20.2

Because times change, styles come and go,

0:22.6

and the vast majority of music becomes a relic of its time. But once in a while, the stars aligns

0:28.6

so that a single piece of music takes hold and will not let go. This is especially true when the

0:35.3

music becomes associated with important life events.

0:38.6

Like birthdays.

0:41.1

Despite the Happy Birthday song being written over a hundred years ago,

0:45.1

it's still being sung countless times a day all over the world.

0:53.0

Here's another one.

0:59.0

Felix Mendelssohn's wedding march was written in the 1840s, but we still think of it as the wedding song.

1:11.5

So for birthdays, we've got happy birthday.

1:14.3

For weddings, we have the wedding march.

1:16.3

And when life ends, well, we have music for that too.

1:20.0

Another classic song you probably recognize is Chopin's funeral march.

1:40.3

Music That song is famous, but there's actually another song, or at least a melody that has an even deeper connection with death.

1:51.6

For hundreds of years, composers and songwriters have been using this melody to evoke feelings of dread and despair.

1:53.6

You've probably heard it dozens of times and never even realized it, but it's one of

1:58.2

those things where, once you know about it, you'll start noticing it everywhere.

2:02.7

It's called the Dias Eire.

...

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