It Seems to Belong to Civilization: The Dies Irae in Italy, Camp Crystal Lake, and a Galaxy Far, Far Away
摘要
This chapter returns to the ideas of film clusters, first introduced in Chap. 2 , to examine three film composers that frequently incorporate the Dies Irae into their scores. The great Italian maestro, Ennio Morricone, deployed the melody ten times, eight of which occurred in the first decade of his career. He frequently tasked a vocalist with performing the melody within a broader pop/rock musical style. Harry Manfredini, the composer for most of the films in the Friday the 13th horror franchise, uses the Dies Irae extensively in only one of the many films in the franchise. This middle section examines why he suddenly focuses on the melody in Part VI: Jason Lives, but not extensively in the films prior to it. Lastly, this chapter turns to a galaxy far, far away to look at the scores of John Williams (and Michael Giacchino) for the Star Wars Cinematic Universe. The Dies Irae appears in four different films at important moments of transition, and both Williams and Giacchino freely combine various forms of the melody in order to heighten these transformative moments.