# Movie Scenes Featuring Classical Music



## Guest (Jun 3, 2016)

Some of my favorite scenes from movies are ones without words, just images set to some great piece of classical music. Let's post a few! This one is from the movie "Knowing" and features the Allegretto from Beethoven's 7th. Amazing.


----------



## kartikeys (Mar 16, 2013)

The ending scene -- Melancholia. Though the film does not really have spoilers, 
skip it if you want to be unaware.


----------



## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

One of the most moving scenes ever: The King's Speech, once again using the Beethoven 7 Allegretto:


----------



## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

One of the more puzzling uses of Beethoven's 9th: Die Hard


----------



## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

The movies apparently love Beethoven. This is the death scene from Soylent Green using the Beethoven 6th (Pastoral) 1st movt:


----------



## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

Pretty Woman: Verdi's La Traviata:


----------



## Guest (Jun 3, 2016)

Stanley Kubrik did it a lot. This is from 2001: A Space Odessy. The Blue Danube Waltz.


----------



## Templeton (Dec 20, 2014)

'The Marriage of Figaro' in the wonderful 'The Shawshank Redemption;.


----------



## Templeton (Dec 20, 2014)

'La Mamma Morta' from 'Philadelphia'.


----------



## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)




----------



## Templeton (Dec 20, 2014)

Mahler's Fifth from 'Death in Venice'.


----------



## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

*Samuel Barber Adagio For Strings* - _*The Elephant Man*_

Beautiful yet very sad movie.


----------



## worov (Oct 12, 2012)

Scorsese's Casino uses Bach Matthaus Passion :


----------



## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

"Animals are beautiful people" uses some famous classical pieces.

It's a wonderful nature film. Here's the trailer:


----------



## Templeton (Dec 20, 2014)

Elgar's 'Nimrod' from 'The Enigma Variations' in 'Elizabeth'.


----------



## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Can't find a scene from it, but Master and Commander: Far Side of the World uses various classical pieces, including the Tallis Fantasia.


----------



## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

DaveM said:


> One of the more puzzling uses of Beethoven's 9th: Die Hard


For a really puzzling use of Beethoven 7 Allegretto: check out Zardoz with Sean Connery.


----------



## Guest (Jun 3, 2016)

Chopin

The Pianist


----------



## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

Prometheus - Sir Ridley Scott

*Chopin - Prelude No. 15 in D-flat major, Raindrop*


----------



## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

Bridge of Spies - Steven Spielberg

*Piano Concerto No. 2 - 2nd Movement by Dmitri Shostakovich*


----------



## Atrahasis (Aug 5, 2015)

The Silence of the Lambs - Jonathan Demme

*Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 - Johann Sebastian Bach*


----------



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

1:32 Chesnokov's "To Thee We Sing" op. 27 no. 6, but it's originally a cappella. They just added strings and reverb to make it more dramatic.

Now my knowledge of Russian music actually came in handy!!! When I heard this the first time in the adaptation I recognized it instantly. I also like that it was played in death scenes, because I associate that peace with death....


----------



## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

DeepR said:


> Can't find a scene from it, but Master and Commander: Far Side of the World uses various classical pieces, including the Tallis Fantasia.







RVW starts at 2:35


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Cria Cuervos features Mompou's Canzon No. 6 at a crucial point in the movie.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> 1:32 Chesnokov's "To Thee We Sing" op. 27 no. 6,


Holy smokes! That is one incredible piece of music!


----------



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

This movie may have been cliche in its idea of dystopia, _and this might be Beethoven,_ but as soon as Christian Bale starts crying I went "awwwwwwwwwwwwwww!" Basically what happened was he went off his... _medicine_... to see what would happen...

Gotta love the power of classical music.


----------



## DaveM (Jun 29, 2015)

DeepR said:


> For a really puzzling use of Beethoven 7 Allegretto: check out Zardoz with Sean Connery.


That's a puzzler alright! Seems like there might have been budget problems: Don't have to pay Beethoven royalties.  Or the person in charge of the music couldn't think up an original theme.


----------



## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)




----------



## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Saint-Saens's Aquarium (from Carnival of the Animals), used for the opening credits in Days of Heaven.


----------



## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

Love this thread - as a film addict and also the obvious.

Although no scenes are available yet, in _The Revenant_, Glass (L.D.) [*SPOILER*] climbs out of a horse torso to Olivier Messiean. (Or some variant on the original piece)

Iñárritu's previous film, _Birdman_, is littered with classical as well. Several M.9. clips, and this appears a couple times:


----------



## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

Oh, and the indomitable _There Will Be Blood_:


----------



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

^^^^ Haha associating Brahms with brutal violence.... never occurred to me before. Came across as ironic when I saw that film.

Anyone seen _Jean de Florette_? Really sad film, but the sequel kinda balances it out...

(1:03 is the label for the piece)


----------



## Adam Weber (Apr 9, 2015)

The Rheingold Prelude starts around 2:17, but the whole scene is brilliant.

I love the Popul Vuh soundtrack too.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Templeton said:


> 'The Marriage of Figaro' in the wonderful 'The Shawshank Redemption;.



[


----------



## OldFashionedGirl (Jul 21, 2013)

Ode to Joy. 6:50.


----------



## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

*Mozart Clarinet concerto*

Mozart Clarinet concerto Adagio





when I was a little kid, I already had been into all that music stuff, but after watching this movie I became in love with woodwinds :lol: and this this concerto.

Btw Kubrick has lots of classical music in his movies, Schubert, Schostakovitch, Beethoven, etc.
and Don Hertzfeldt ( cartoons or I don't know how to define them, probably short movies) as well, even less popular classic like Wagner's early songs, Richard Strauss's .


----------



## JosefinaHW (Nov 21, 2015)

_Masterpiece Contemporary: Collision_ Douglas Henshall (*WARNING:* If you have *ANY PROBLEMS* with watching *realistic portrayals of car collisions,* this is not the film/series for you!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/collision/

or free on Amazon Prime or 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Masterpiece-...s=collision masterpiece&qid=1465020971&sr=8-1

Fabulous use of both _Chopin's Prelude No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 28 _- Detective's first understanding of the order of events in the collision; then,

_Chopin, Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11, II. Larghetto_ - the reversal of the crash upon destruction of it's cause

The show is three hours and 20 minutes and you need to watch most of it to truly appreciate the above mentioned scenes: IMO Masterpiece is always a show of the highest quality.


----------



## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

The opening scene of Terence Malick's _The New World_ uses Wagner's _Rheingold_ prelude rather brilliantly:






Then there's his use of Smetana in _Tree of Life_:


----------



## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

Scorsese's _Shutter Island_ soundtrack is a great mix of mostly modern works.

Penderecki:


----------



## Guest (Jun 4, 2016)

Avey said:


> Love this thread - as a film addict and also the obvious.
> 
> Although no scenes are available yet, in _The Revenant_, Glass (L.D.) [*SPOILER*] climbs out of a horse torso to Olivier Messiean. (Or some variant on the original piece)
> 
> Iñárritu's previous film, _Birdman_, is littered with classical as well. Several M.9. clips, and this appears a couple times:


Fantastic film. I'm going to watch it again tomorrow!


----------



## kartikeys (Mar 16, 2013)

Swan Lake -- Scoop. 
Music fit perfectly with the film.


----------



## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

The Thin Red line, Ives' "The Unanswered Question" at around 6:15 on this clip.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

They play the Saint Saens Organ Symphony in Babe. It's at 1:56 here.


----------



## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

no Elvira Madigan?


----------



## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

stomanek said:


> no Elvira Madigan?


What scene do you gave in mind? The OP asked for scenes.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

The storyline of Immortal Beloved is bogus, but it has some well-done scenes involving music. Here is the premier of the 9th symphony, showing what Beethoven actually heard, and a flashback to his childhood with his abusive father, culminating with him surrounded by stars, maybe reflecting the thought, "Surely among the canopy of stars there must dwell a loving father."


----------



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Nothing like a bit of KABOOOM! for Tchaikovsky 1812. 











I had a... _phase _with this movie for a while. My poor imaginative middle-school soul... :lol:


----------



## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> Nothing like a bit of KABOOOM! for Tchaikovsky 1812.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Silly, silly movie.


----------



## isorhythm (Jan 2, 2015)

Henry II's henchman is excommunicated to the Dies irae in _Becket_:


----------



## Biwa (Aug 3, 2015)

stomanek said:


> no Elvira Madigan?


How about a double feature... Bach & Mozart?


----------



## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance No.1 from Kingsman:


----------



## SalieriIsInnocent (Feb 28, 2008)

Why Kubrick was the master. 
Handel - Sarabande




This piece is used countless times throughout the film, to great effect.

Then the most genius is:
Schubert - Trio op 100




at first it's used in a scene of seduction...





then heartbreak.


----------



## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

How about some plagiarism from James Horner. I cant find the scene but here is a track for the OST of Troy. The entrance into Troy by Hector and Paris with the pealing fanfare of trumpets and horns. Made me go WTF when I first heard it. Around 42 seconds in.

Britten, The War Requiem.






Shostakovich and the tune to the Tallis Fantasia were also borrowed by Horner.


----------



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

That music (a direct lift from the Sanctus of Britten's War Requiem) is used several times in the movie, usually when Troy is shown from an aerial view. I haven't heard that Britten's estate has filed a lawsuit, which is surprising.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

A Single Man (Soundtrack) - 11 La Wally Catalany


----------



## helenora (Sep 13, 2015)

My favorite so far as for incorporating classical music in a movie.....and recently became my favorite movie as such.

Lots of arias: Handel, Hasse, Porpora.....


----------



## SimonNZ (Jul 12, 2012)

Faure's "In Paradisum" from his Requiem, near the start of The Thin Red Line:






Khachaturian's "Adagio" from Spartacus, with the opening monologue of The Hudsucker Proxy:






Bach's "Variation 25" from the Goldberg Variations, coming from a basement in Before Sunrise:


----------



## Guest (Jun 5, 2016)

Barber's Adagio for Strings in Platoon


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

*Impromptu* with Hugh Grant :tiphat:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102103/soundtrack


----------



## Guest (Jun 5, 2016)

With the recent death of boxing legend *Muhammad Ali*, I offer the Intermezzo from *Pietro Mascagni's* _Cavalleria Rusticana_ used in *Martin Scorsese's* film _Raging Bull_:


----------



## kartikeys (Mar 16, 2013)

Mozart Symphony 40 inspires this movie song 
from an Indian film. Enjoy.


----------



## john1967 (Jun 4, 2016)

I have the soundtrack for the horror movie psycho 1960. I do not know who does it but I like it.


----------



## Guest (Jun 6, 2016)

john1967 said:


> I have the soundtrack for the horror movie psycho 1960. I do not know who does it but I like it.


The music for written specifically for the movie by Bernard Herrmann. He also wrote the music to other Hitchcock films including North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo.


----------



## JosefinaHW (Nov 21, 2015)

Jerome said:


> Barber's Adagio for Strings in Platoon


I cried for days after I saw that movie.


----------



## JosefinaHW (Nov 21, 2015)

Manxfeeder said:


> The storyline of Immortal Beloved is bogus, but it has some well-done scenes involving music. Here is the premier of the 9th symphony, showing what Beethoven actually heard, and a flashback to his childhood with his abusive father, culminating with him surrounded by stars, maybe reflecting the thought, "Surely among the canopy of stars there must dwell a loving father."


Another wonderful 37 boxes of Puffs with lotion film!


----------



## Guest (Jun 6, 2016)

And how can we have forgotten the use of *Wagner's* music in *Francis Ford Coppola's* _Apocalypse Now _:


----------



## violadude (May 2, 2011)

Atrahasis said:


>


Those soldiers aren't very musically literate. It's obviously Bach


----------



## Biwa (Aug 3, 2015)

Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony in the highway scene from Breaking Away (1979).


----------



## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Londoners wrestling with a downed barrage balloon during the Blitz to the Dance of the Apprentices from Die Meistersinger in Hope and Glory.


----------



## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

Jerome said:


> The music for written specifically for the movie by Bernard Herrmann. He also wrote the music to other Hitchcock films including North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo.


Fun fact on the Psycho score that is relevant to this thread. Some of the score was a re-use of sections from Herrmann's Sinfonietta for Strings.


----------



## TwoFlutesOneTrumpet (Aug 31, 2011)

violadude said:


> Those soldiers aren't very musically literate. It's obviously Bach


Yep. It's from English Suite #2. And according to IMDB, it's also performed by Bach himself! 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108052/soundtrack?ref_=tt_trv_snd


----------



## Alfacharger (Dec 6, 2013)

Moonrise Kingdom featured many works by Benjamin Britten along with others. Here is the beginning of the film using the Variations on a theme of Purcell as the Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra and a scene of a performance of Noye's Fludde.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I know this is about movie scenes, but this scene from Band of Brothers is a perfect use of Beethoven's C# minor quartet, the movement where it's as if he realizes what he had just experienced was not heaven but a dream, and he has to wake up to reality. (Warning: there is a four-letter word at 2:35.)


----------



## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Satie's Gymnopedie no. 1 has been used twice memorably for me. Once in My Dinner with Andre, the other time in Man On Wire. The former:


----------



## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

OldFashionedGirl said:


> Ode to Joy. 6:50.


Ode to Joy again. Tarkovsky's inner soul


----------



## vamei (Jun 13, 2018)

Andrei Tarkovsky - The Sacrifice - J.S. Bach - Matthew Passion


----------



## Mozart555 (Jun 17, 2018)

Using classical music for movies tends to be a bit cheap because then it becomes the music that makes the film rather than the film standing by it's own merit. Not to mention that the music already has a meaning of it's own, intended by the composer, and trying to bend that meaning to the plot of an unrelated movie is bastardizing the piece.


----------



## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

At 1 minute in, Katherine Hepburn is luxuriating as someone, I think it's her dad, is playing the slow movement from Brahms' 3rd on the piano, and she joins him with accompanying filligrees. I wanted to have that kind effect on my daughter's musical taste, but she married a young man who turned her musical taste another direction. <Sigh>


----------



## Varick (Apr 30, 2014)

I can't believe no one has posted this one. Not only is this one of the greatest scenes in movie history (IMO), but one of the greatest uses of ANY music, let alone classical music, in any movie scene:

You have to watch 6 minutes to fully understand the scene. The music starts at the 6 minute mark.






V


----------



## Chromatose (Jan 18, 2016)

Mozart555 said:


> Using classical music for movies tends to be a bit cheap because then it becomes the music that makes the film rather than the film standing by it's own merit. Not to mention that the music already has a meaning of it's own, intended by the composer, and trying to bend that meaning to the plot of an unrelated movie is bastardizing the piece.


I disagree, it depends entirely on the films use of a particular piece. Many people also have the ability to recognize the music separately and come to know new music that the film is using, this is the case for many people and Kubrick's use of Ligeti in "2001" (also an example of music used to superb effect in a film).

Another point I'd like to make is that no film score composer will ever come close to writing any music by any great composers of classical music so why not use some of the masterworks of the past in a film? Especially if its done in a fresh, original way; like Satie used in a scene in "The Royal Tenenbaums" , Bach's Air used in "Seven", the opening credits of "Casino" using the last chorus of St. Matthews Passion, or the Mozart Aria used in "Shawshank Redemption (not that this is highly original but another amazing use of a piece in a film).

The idea a film has to get by on it's own merit is not really taking into account all the art forms a film draws on in the first place, art design, photography, acting, writing, fashion design, music.. You could say that's what film does it is a blending of different artistry into a new thing, most the time garbage or something lesser but sometimes a new work of art.


----------



## StrE3ss (Feb 20, 2019)

Just for fun

Kung Fu Hustle use Pablo de Sarasate Zigeunerweisen


----------



## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Waterloo's (1970) "Napoleon theme" is derived from Beethoven


----------



## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

The Shawshank Redemption Opera Scene

Timeless vignette in which the beautiful duet entitled "Sull'aria" from Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro"


----------



## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Bartok's MSPC as incidental music for a puppet show, _Being John Malkovich_:


----------



## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Very extensive use of Debussy in de Palma's _Passion _(2012):


----------



## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Mozart555 said:


> Using classical music for movies tends to be a bit cheap because then it becomes the music that makes the film rather than the film standing by it's own merit. Not to mention that the music already has a meaning of it's own, intended by the composer, and trying to bend that meaning to the plot of an unrelated movie is bastardizing the piece.


_Melancholia _(2011) in a nutshell.


----------



## Littlephrase (Nov 28, 2018)

The ending of Bresson’s heart breaking Au hasard Balthazar uses the equally heart breaking Adagio from Schubert’s Piano Sonata No. 20 to great effect. For some reason, this is the first example that came to mind upon seeing the topic of this thread.


----------



## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Madame Butterfly scenes from Fatal Attraction


----------



## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

This is my favorite use of music I can think of at the moment. Such a climax. I haven't seen many older films:


----------

