# Best Film Uses of Non-Film Music



## Freischutz

Title says it all!

I was watching _Marathon Man_ a few days ago and smiled when I heard _Die Schone Mullerin_, even though it was a Nazi murderer listening to it.

Of course, one of the best cinematic uses of classical music was in Kubrick's _2001: A Space Odyssey_, which featured Strauss's _Zarathustra_, the other Strauss's _Blue Danube_ and, equally importantly, a handful of pieces by Ligeti, such as _Atmosphères_ and _Lux aeterna_. I love Ligeti's micropolyphony anyway, but I wonder if hearing it in a dramatic, visual context helps people appreciate it.

So what are some great uses of classical music _not_ originally written for the cinema that you can think of? I am going to ban you from choosing music biopics because that's just cheating.


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## Serge

Many, many... But let's start the fun!

_Shutter Island_

Mahler - Quartet for Piano and Strings in A minor:






Which reminds me... the need to recommend the movie itself.


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## KenOC

Beethoven's Pastoral in Soylent Green...


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## Serge

_There Will Be Blood_

Brahms - Violin Concerto in D Major.

A short final scene extract:






And the piece itself:


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## geralmar

Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 (Allegro) in The Brain Eaters (1958).

Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D minor (Allegro) in The House That Dripped Blood (1971).

Grieg: Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 ("Anitra's Dance") in Faces of Death (1978) (slaughterhouse sequence).


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## GraemeG

There was very effective use of the allegretto from Beethoven 7th in _The King's Speech_. It was in the more-or-less climactic scene near the end, where King George V/(Firth) makes the declaration of war speech on the radio. In the movie, the scene is tense and quiet at the beginning, but the cinema audience is euphoric by the end. Considering the text itself it pretty uninspiring by today's standards, and Firth can't (by definition!) make a great oration of it, how is the emotional effect achieved in the audience? Simple; the music does it. The stuttering opening to the Allegretto is actually a perfect fit for the atmosphere in the film, and then over the next 5 minutes or so, Beethoven does the job than no-one else could have.
I felt like shouting out afterward to the whole cinema "That was Beethoven who did that, don't you realise. Go home and listen to real music!"
cheers,
GG


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## senza sordino

Breaking Away used Mendelssohn's Fourth Symphony


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## GreenMamba

My Dinner with Andre and Man On Wire both used Satie's Gymnopedie #1 to great effect.

Mascagni's Intermezzo in Raging Bull is a classic.


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## Varick

senza sordino said:


> Breaking Away used Mendelssohn's Fourth Symphony


It also used Rosinni's Overture

I also thought Beethoven's 7th in The Kings Speech was masterful.

Perhaps my favorite (as well as one of my favorite moments in movie history) was the duet from Lakme in "True Romance." That scene between Dennis Hopper & Christopher Walken was absolutely intense. Heck, I'd pay good money to watch those two have a cup of coffee together.

I also enjoyed Grieg's Pier Gynt #2 in Stephen King's "Something Wicked This Way Comes."

V


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## amfortas

Visconti's _Death in Venice_, which critic John Simon called "a thing of beauty and a bore forever," owes whatever success it may claim largely to Mahler's Adagietto from the 5th Symphony.


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## SimonNZ

Roy Scheider starting each day with Vivaldi's "Alla rustica" in All That Jazz


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## dgee

Chopin E flat Nocturne (just the music and no situational sound) as Billy Bob Thornton lurches drunkenly through some messy self destruction in the early part of Bad Santa. Also some Sleeping Beauty, Carmen and Barber of Seville overture in same


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## SimonNZ

Ethan Haweke and Julie Delpy discovering a harpsichordist performing Variation 25 from the Goldbergs in Before Sunrise:


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## hpowders

^^^^I love that movie!


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## norman bates

SimonNZ said:


> Ethan Haweke and Julie Delpy discovering a harpsichordist performing Variation 25 from the Goldbergs in Before Sunrise:


Anyway to me the most effective use of music in Before sunrise is the use of the Kath Bloom song "Come here". A bit off topic, because it's not classical music, but a brilliant and moving scene.


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## FLighT

"Duet" by Philip Glass in "Stoker". The score for the film was by Clint Mansell so I don't believe Glass was asked to compose it for the movie. I felt it was very effective on several levels in the scene it was used in. The Duet is played by the 2 principal characters. As the music twists about itself so do the characters, both physically and emotionally, the sexual tension is not subtle, and at the same time the piece creates an unsettling, psychologically perverted feeling that suits the overall mood and storyline.


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## FLighT

Brahms: "Intermezzo in A major" featured prominently in 2 (at least) of the 8 "Jesse Stone" made for TV movies based on the books of Robert B. Parker. Tom Selleck plays a divorced, alcoholic, ex LAPD detective who relocates to a small New England town to become police chief. The movie score itself for the series is by Jeff Beal and I like it very much as well. It's haunting and yet in some fashion consoling at the same time. Selleck is perfect, I can't imagine any other actor doing the character justice and I think it's his greatest portrayal. Sadly, Parker died in 2010, there is a ninth and final Stone novel that has not been made into a movie as yet. Hopefully it will get made and have the series end in the only way possible for this melancholy, self-destructive character that somehow evokes my sense of compassion, as I've known the type.


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## sdtom

Grieg's was also used in Woody Allen's "Scoop"


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## sdtom

One I'm surprised that has not been mentioned is the Gounod theme which was his theme song for Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Tom


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## FLighT

FLighT said:


> "Duet" by Philip Glass in "Stoker". The score for the film was by Clint Mansell so I don't believe Glass was asked to compose it for the movie. I felt it was very effective on several levels in the scene it was used in. The Duet is played by the 2 principal characters. As the music twists about itself so do the characters, both physically and emotionally, the sexual tension is not subtle, and at the same time the piece creates an unsettling, psychologically perverted feeling that suits the overall mood and storyline.


I have to correct myself. It turns out the director of "Stoker", Park Chan-Wook, actually did ask Glass to compose the "Duet" just for this 3 minute scene. Probably why it works so well. So this piece does not qualify under the topic.


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## Fugue Meister

I'm amazed no one has mentioned the use of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" in "Apocalypse Now". While we're on Coppola, he used Brahms' Symphony No. 1 in c to great effect in "Tetro". 

No one beat's Kubrick though.. My favorite use of music in a film is the adagio from the "Gayane" ballet suite during the jupiter mission segment of "2001: A space odyssey". Man that Kubrick was something else... I also give him credit for getting me into Shostakovich (Jazz suite waltz in "Eyes Wide Shut").


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## SimonNZ

sdtom said:


> Grieg's was also used in Woody Allen's "Scoop"


Speaking of Woody Allen:

Rhapsody In Blue over the opening montage of Manhattan:


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## nightscape

"In Your Eyes" in _Say Anything..._


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## Droogie

Stanley Kubrick was a master at this,I would choose his films between 2001 and Eyes Wide Shut(excluding Full Metal Jacket).
It is too difficult to post links to youtube from my playstation so look up Stanley Kubrick - Music,very interesting.


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## Sol Invictus

Or how about the mear mention of music? Woody Allen says the 2nd movement the Jupiter symphony is one the reasons life is worth living in Manhattan.


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## Sol Invictus

Or how about the mear mention of music? Woody Allen says the 2nd movement the Jupiter symphony is one the reasons life is worth living in Manhattan.


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## Pugg

Sol Invictus said:


> Or how about the mear mention of music? Woody Allen says the 2nd movement the Jupiter symphony is one the reasons life is worth living in Manhattan.


Do not believe everything Woody says......


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## tdc

I think Kubrick relied too much on classical music in his movies. I think it is better to find a good film composer to tailor music for specific scenes (even when he did this I'm not crazy about the results though like that piano stuff in Eyes Wide Shut - boring!). There are exceptions of course and certain instances where a piece of classical music works perfectly in a scene, but Kubrick (in my view) tended to rely too much on slapping classical music over his scenes, most of which I think would sound better with different music. In Space Odyssey the Ligeti pieces he used work great I don't think any of the other classical music works very well in it. The majority of the time the music he chooses doesn't seem quite right to me.

I do think he was genius in certain other areas though and all of his films have redeeming qualities, but over all he is a director that I respect but have mixed feelings about.

In response to the OP I do like David Lynch's use of Barber's _Adagio for Strings_ in _The Elephant Man_.


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## Sol Invictus

tdc said:


> I think Kubrick relied too much on classical music in his movies. I think it is better to find a good film composer to tailor music for specific scenes (even when he did this I'm not crazy about the results though like that piano stuff in Eyes Wide Shut - boring!). There are exceptions of course and certain instances where a piece of classical music works perfectly in a scene, but Kubrick (in my view) tended to rely too much on slapping classical music over his scenes, most of which I think would sound better with different music. In Space Odyssey the Ligeti pieces he used work great I don't think any of the other classical music works very well in it. The majority of the time the music he chooses doesn't seem quite right to me.
> 
> I do think he was genius in certain other areas though and all of his films have redeeming qualities, but over all he is a director that I respect but have mixed feelings about.
> 
> In response to the OP I do like David Lynch's use of Barber's _Adagio for Strings_ in _The Elephant Man_.


As much I adore Kubrick, I'm going to have to agree 100%. With the exception of A Clockwork Orange, most my favorite moments in his films are either silent or only dialogue. You can tell he always thought of cinema as a visual medium above all else given the tremendous amount of time spent on set design, costume design, location scouting, and certainly not least of which the amount of takes he shot.


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## Bettina

In the Shawshank Redemption, there's a very moving scene in which the prisoners listen to a duet from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro. The scene demonstrates the uplifting and inspiring power of Mozart's music. For those brief moments, the prisoners feel able to transcend their bleak environment. 

I'm not sure how realistic the scene is. Would a group of hardened criminals really be so moved by Mozart's music? Perhaps not. But whether or not the scene is true to life, it makes a compelling statement about the emotional effects of music.


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## Sol Invictus

Bettina said:


> In the Shawshank Redemption, there's a very moving scene in which the prisoners listen to a duet from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro. The scene demonstrates the uplifting and inspiring power of Mozart's music. For those brief moments, the prisoners feel able to transcend their bleak environment.
> 
> I'm not sure how realistic the scene is. Would a group of hardened criminals really be so moved by Mozart's music? Perhaps not. But whether or not the scene is true to life, it makes a compelling statement about the emotional effects of music.


Historically, I think we can say for certain that Johnny Cash does.


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## DeepR

Beethoven's 7th - Allegretto in the movie Zardoz....

...I'm kidding.


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## Alfacharger

Mahler's 4th "Gates of Heaven" in the film El Norte. It starts at about 1 hour 10 minutes in the full film but I would go a few minutes before hand for the set up.


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## CypressWillow

Mozart, "Ave Verum Corpus" in the film "I Am David." 
It's the emotional heart of the film: David is not the same person at the end of it as he was at the beginning. It's stunning!


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## Sol Invictus

Second movement of Ravel's string quartet in F major in The Royal Tenenbaums.


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## Vinski

All the more than 30 classical pieces in Terrence Malick's film The Tree of Life.


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## Sol Invictus

Vinski said:


> All the more than 30 classical pieces in Terrence Malick's film The Tree of Life.


Out of all of those, Brahms' 4th is my favorite.


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## Guest

The "Goldberg Variations" in _The Silence of the Lambs_. Quite chilling.


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## Balthazar

From Alfred Hitchcock's _Rope_ (1948) -- The guy who just killed his friend (and is hosting a dinner party with the friend's parents) plays Poulenc's _Mouvement Perpétuel_ while talking to his suspicious professor played by Jimmy Stewart.

The "broken music box" vibe of the piece is very appropriate to the scene.






An orchestration of the piece is also used throughout the film.


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## JeffD

I don't know about "best" but an extremely great one was the last scene of the movie Conrack.






In the context and story of the movie this is quite an amazing moment.


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## DeepR

DeepR said:


> Beethoven's 7th - Allegretto in the movie Zardoz....
> 
> ...I'm kidding.


Not the piece you want to associate with a half naked Sean Connery running around in one of the weirdest films you'll ever see.


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## DeepR

RVW - Tallis Fantasia in _Master and Commander _
Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent) in _Traffic_
Weber/Berlioz - Invitation to the Dance in _Animals are Beautiful People_ 
Tchaikovsky - Waltz of the Flowers in _Animals are Beautiful People_
The Doors - The End in _Apocalypse Now_
Dead Can Dance - The Host of Seraphim in _Baraka_


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## Polyphemus

DeepR said:


> Not the piece you want to associate with a half naked Sean Connery running around in one of the weirdest films you'll ever see.


Im sure the ladies appreciatd the half naked Connery.


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## xtet

The "piano stuff" in Eyes Wide Shut was from Musica Ricercata by Ligeti (composed in the '50's, so NOT written for the film). The piece you are referencing was probably meant to be boring. Ligeti limited himself to 3 pitches for that piece, so the main "theme" is those two notes over & over. When the 3rd note comes in super-loud, perhaps he meant it to "wake up" the listener. Unfortunately, I don't think Kubrick used that part of the piece. Kubrick must like Ligeti! He originally used that music in 2001 without Ligeti's permission, and Ligeti almost refused to let him (or sued, not sure which). Lucky for him his publisher talked him into letting it be used. It made him a lot of money and helped put him on the map as a composer.


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## xtet

The "piano stuff" in Eyes Wide Shut was from Musica Ricercata by Ligeti (composed in the '50's, so NOT written for the film). The piece you are referencing was probably meant to be boring. Ligeti limited himself to 3 pitches for that piece, so the main "theme" is those two notes over & over. When the 3rd note comes in super-loud, perhaps he meant it to "wake up" the listener. Unfortunately, I don't think Kubrick used that part of the piece. Kubrick must like Ligeti! He originally used that music in 2001 without Ligeti's permission, and Ligeti almost refused to let him (or sued, not sure which). Lucky for him his publisher talked him into letting it be used. It made him a lot of money and helped put him on the map as a composer.


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## Harrowby Hall

How about Tom Ewell trying to seduce Marilyn Monroe in _The Seven Year Itch_ with Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto?

She announces that she know that it classical because it contains "no vocals".


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## david johnson

Excalibur made effective use of Wagner and Orff


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## mountmccabe

tdc said:


> I think Kubrick relied too much on classical music in his movies. I think it is better to find a good film composer to tailor music for specific scenes (even when he did this I'm not crazy about the results though like that piano stuff in Eyes Wide Shut - boring!). There are exceptions of course and certain instances where a piece of classical music works perfectly in a scene, but Kubrick (in my view) tended to rely too much on slapping classical music over his scenes, most of which I think would sound better with different music. In Space Odyssey the Ligeti pieces he used work great I don't think any of the other classical music works very well in it. The majority of the time the music he chooses doesn't seem quite right to me.


You can now hear at least some of the score by Alex North that was commissioned for _2001_ but not used. The classical pieces were used as guide pieces for North. And indeed, the title theme he wrote bears a lot of similarity to the opening fanfare from _Also sprach Zarathustra_. Of course Kubrick decided to use those guide pieces, and - most amazing to me - didn't even tell North. The composer only found out at the NYC premiere of the film.

There are various attempts on YouTube to use North's music for sections of the film as released, though it appears his final versions were from an earlier cut of the film and everything doesn't quite line up.


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## Manxfeeder

The Spanish Movie Cria Cuervos has an annoying pop song juxtaposed with Mompou's 6th Cancion to symbolize the emptiness inside a young girl.

The Incredibles has an add-on clip called Jack-Jack Attack. Then babysitter tries to stimulate a baby with flashcards while playing Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca and the Nachtmusic for the Mozart Effect. When the innocent baby sees a flashcard with fire on it, he turns into a human torch, and the background switches to the Dies Irae from the Requiem. I don't think too many people picked up on the two sides of Mozart being presented here. The Mozart Effect has a downside.


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## Mifek

I remember many such scenes/uses, but here is my top ten list:

1. *Brahms* string sextet no. 1 in *Les Amantes* (The Lovers) by Louis Malle
2. *Schubert* piano trio no. 2 in *Barry Lyndon* by Stanley Kubrick
3. *Mendelssohn* violin concerto in *Dzieje Grzechu* (The Story of Sin) by Walerian Borowczyk
4. *Brahms* violin concerto in *There Will Be Blood* by Paul Thomas Anderson
5. *Strauss* Also Sprach Zarathustra in *2001: A Space Odyssey* by Stanley Kubrick
6. *Wagner* Die Walküre in *Apocalypse Now* by Francis Coppola
7. *Vivaldi* Four Seasons in *Krajobraz Po Bitwie* (Landscape After the Battle) by Andrzej Wajda
8. *Bach* Goldberg variations in *The Silence of the Lambs* by Jonathan Demme
9. *Shostakovich* string quartet no. 8 in *The Lobster* by Yorgos Lanthimos
10. *Bach* WTC (prelude in E minor) in *Дикое поле* (Wild Field) by Mikheil Kalatozishvili


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## Dulova Harps On

The Marriage of Figaro: Overture


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## eyepatchplease

The Vivaldi piece in All the President's Men is great - the way it enhances the tension of the scene, the way it breaks up the movie (it's probably the movie's loudest moment)

Unfortunately, the soundtrack version sounds like... I think it's synthesizer. It sounds like a totally different recording, and worse, it sounds so _precise._


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## wahidovic

mountmccabe said:


> You can now hear at least some of the score by Alex North that was commissioned for _2001_ but not used. The classical pieces were used as guide pieces for North. And indeed, the title theme he wrote bears a lot of similarity to the opening fanfare from _Also sprach Zarathustra_. Of course Kubrick decided to use those guide pieces, and - most amazing to me - didn't even tell North. The composer only found out at the NYC premiere of the film.
> 
> There are various attempts on YouTube to use North's music for sections of the film as released, though it appears his final versions were from an earlier cut of the film and everything doesn't quite line up.


can you give me the link of youtube to watch Alex ?


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## wahidovic

Mifek said:


> I remember many such scenes/uses, but here is my top ten list:
> 
> 1. *Brahms* string sextet no. 1 in *Les Amantes* (The Lovers) by Louis Malle
> 2. *Schubert* piano trio no. 2 in *Barry Lyndon* by Stanley Kubrick
> 3. *Mendelssohn* violin concerto in *Dzieje Grzechu* (The Story of Sin) by Walerian Borowczyk
> 4. *Brahms* violin concerto in *There Will Be Blood* by Paul Thomas Anderson
> 5. *Strauss* Also Sprach Zarathustra in *2001: Dafont Showbox FileHippoA Space Odyssey* by Stanley Kubrick
> 6. *Wagner* Die Walküre in *Apocalypse Now* by Francis Coppola
> 7. *Vivaldi* Four Seasons in *Krajobraz Po Bitwie* (Landscape After the Battle) by Andrzej Wajda
> 8. *Bach* Goldberg variations in *The Silence of the Lambs* by Jonathan Demme
> 9. *Shostakovich* string quartet no. 8 in *The Lobster* by Yorgos Lanthimos
> 10. *Bach* WTC (prelude in E minor) in *Дикое поле* (Wild Field) by Mikheil Kalatozishvili


thanks for this very good list i like them all


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## Tchaikov6

*Master and Commander: Far Side of the World* has an effective use of the Bach Cello Suite No. 1.


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## Mifek

Mifek said:


> 1. *Brahms* string sextet no. 1 in *Les Amantes* (The Lovers) by Louis Malle
> 2. *Schubert* piano trio no. 2 in *Barry Lyndon* by Stanley Kubrick
> 3. *Mendelssohn* violin concerto in *Dzieje Grzechu* (The Story of Sin) by Walerian Borowczyk
> 4. *Brahms* violin concerto in *There Will Be Blood* by Paul Thomas Anderson
> 5. *Strauss* Also Sprach Zarathustra in *2001: A Space Odyssey* by Stanley Kubrick
> 6. *Wagner* Die Walküre in *Apocalypse Now* by Francis Coppola
> 7. *Vivaldi* Four Seasons in *Krajobraz Po Bitwie* (Landscape After the Battle) by Andrzej Wajda
> 8. *Bach* Goldberg variations in *The Silence of the Lambs* by Jonathan Demme
> 9. *Shostakovich* string quartet no. 8 in *The Lobster* by Yorgos Lanthimos
> 10. *Bach* WTC (prelude in E minor) in *Дикое поле* (Wild Field) by Mikheil Kalatozishvili


A slightly modified list - *with links*.

1. *Brahms* string sextet no. 1 in *Les Amantes* (The Lovers) by Louis Malle
2. *Schubert* piano trio no. 2 in *Barry Lyndon* by Stanley Kubrick
3. *Mendelssohn* violin concerto in *Dzieje Grzechu* (The Story of Sin) by Walerian Borowczyk
4. *Brahms* violin concerto in *There Will Be Blood* by Paul Thomas Anderson
5. *R. Strauss* Also Sprach Zarathustra and *J. Strauss* The Blue Danube in *2001: A Space Odyssey* by Stanley Kubrick
6. *Wagner* Die Walküre in *Apocalypse Now* by Francis Coppola
7. *Vivaldi* The Four Seasons in *Krajobraz Po Bitwie* (Landscape After the Battle) by Andrzej Wajda
8. *Bach* Goldberg variations in *The Silence of the Lambs* by Jonathan Demme
9. *Wagner* Tristan und Isolde in *Melancholia* by Lars von Trier
10. *Gershwin* Rhapsody in Blue in *Manhattan* by Woody Allen


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## Barbarella

Renee Fleming, “The Last Rose of Summer” in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri.


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## Azol

*Ravel's Bolero* is featured in *The Orchestra* by Zbigniew Rybczyński






Also Rossini, Mozart, Schubert etc.


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## SanAntone

*Puccini *- "Nessun Dorma" in _The Killing Fields_ and *Barber*'s "Adagio for Strings" in _Platoon_.


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## pianozach

*Moonlight Sonata* (1st mvt.) in the hobbling scene in *Misery*.

A peaceful, serene, and moody piece juxtaposed onto a brutal and violent hobbling.

DO NOT watch this if you're of a sensitive nature; it is truly disturbing.






•

In the novel she didn't use a sledgehammer.

She used an axe.


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## tannerall

Most effective for me is the stirringly emotional and beautiful Cavalleria Rusticana Intermezzo juxtaposing to great effect with the passion and brutality of the fight ring in Raging Bull. (Also used in the final sequence of the Godfather finale, of course)


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## tannerall

And just about everything in The Truman Show.


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## Donna Elvira

Not really sure if it would qualify as "best use" but it was nice to hear Mozart sprinkled thruout an old Walter Matthau film, "Hopstotch."
Quite a bit of filming of Salzburg, as well.
I just got inspired to post something about it because I was watching it last night and this thread seemed to be the most appropriate place to post it.


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## Piers Hudson

Any number of examples from Kubrick's films could be cited, but one that stands out to me is his use of Ligeti's _Lux Aeterna_ in _2001_:


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## MAS

*Casta Diva*, by Bellini in the movie *Atlantic City*, while Susan Sarandon applies lemons to her breasts to wash away the smell of fish (I think).

Mozart's *Piano Concerto No. 21*, in the forgotten film *Elvira Madigan*.


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## MAS

tannerall said:


> And just about everything in The Truman Show.


Brilliant film!


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## MAS

*Lorenzo's Oil* uses music from _Norma_ by Bellini, and Samuel Barber's _Adagio for Strings_ as _Agnus Dei_,
along with the second worst Italian accent ever from Nick Nolte. The first was in *The Wedding Planner* as spoken by Alex Karev.


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## MAS

George Lucas, in *American Graffiti*, uses strictly pop music to establish a sense of time and place, mood, and the joys and sadness of being young. Songs range from _Rock around the clock_, and _See you in September_, to The Platters' hits like _The Great Pretender_ and _Smoke gets in your eyes_, my personal favorite.


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## pianozach

Changes in Oscar's music rules, as announced today, will make a lot of film composers happy.

The major change is that an original score no longer needs to consist of at least 60% of the total music in the film. That number has been substantially lowered, to 35%, potentially increasing the number of eligible scores each year.

https://variety.com/2021/music/news/oscar-music-rule-changes-score-songs-2021-1235008829/


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