# Best use of classical music on a movie soundtrack **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 6, 2018, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-classical-music-on-a-movie-soundtrack/815535 "2018-06-06T13:27:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-classical-music-on-a-movie-soundtrack/815535/81 "2018-06-11T12:07:47Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > No, Swan Lake counts as classical because it’s classical. Weird thing about _Swan Lake_ – back in the 1930s somebody at Universal Studios decided that it was the very essence of “Creepy Music”, so they used it for the opening titles of _Dracula_ (the only music in the entire movie, except for some Wagner heard in the background when the Count is at the theater). But they also used it in _The Mummy_, a movie for which it is profoundly unsuited. It was also often played as background music for their _Phantom of the Opera_. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-classical-music-on-a-movie-soundtrack/815535/82 "2018-06-11T13:21:04Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Weird thing about _Swan Lake_ – back in the 1930s somebody at Universal Studios decided that it was the very essence of “Creepy Music”, so they used it for the opening titles of _Dracula_ (the only music in the entire movie, except for some Wagner heard in the background when the Count is at the theater). But they also used it in _The Mummy_, a movie for which it is profoundly unsuited. It was also often played as background music for their _Phantom of the Opera_. I’d noticed it in Dracula (but not the others) – that probably qualifies as “Worst use of classical music”. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-classical-music-on-a-movie-soundtrack/815535/83 "2018-06-11T14:09:47Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > So like _Star Wars_? Nevsky and Kije have been recorded and performed as classical pieces. I’m guessing Star Wars has as well. That’s enough to qualify as classical to me. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-classical-music-on-a-movie-soundtrack/815535/84 "2018-06-11T14:44:25Z")
> [@CelticKnot](#): > > I can’t believe I didn’t think of this already. > > Ravel’s _Bolero_ in _10_. > > I don’t know anyone who knew that song before the movie. Not a movie, not a soundtrack, but it was featured in one episode of “Danger Man” starring Patrick McGoohan (which _The Prisoner_ was a quasi-sequel to). ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-classical-music-on-a-movie-soundtrack/815535/85 "2018-06-11T19:53:05Z")
Many great answers here. I would say that my favorite answers involve _A Clockwork Orange_, where the Beethoven is diagetic and very much integral to the plot. The only way to break a tie is to bring in extra criteria. I’ll digress from movies and recommend an episode of _Mozart in the Jungle_ on Amazon Prime Video: “Not Yet Titled” (Season 3, Episode 7). Even if you have no interest in watching multiple seasons of a soap opera about a fictional symphony orchestra – and I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t – this particular episode can be watched and enjoyed by itself if you like 20th-century classical music. I’ll spoil-tag my description, although I don’t think my description will have any effect on your enjoyment – the episode is pretty thin, plot-wise: [spoiler]Filmed by a mockumentarian, the orchestra departs on buses for a mystery concert. Turns out it’s playing for prisoners at Rikers Island. They play several pieces by Olivier Messiaen. The mockumentarian interviews prisoners about how they liked the concert. And some of the musicians. The concert in question did take place, but obviously within the context of filming a fictional TV show. The prisoners and some musicians are real. Details here: [Paste Magazine](https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/12/for-the-makers-of-amazons-mozart-in-the-jungle-the.html%5B/spoiler%5D) I’m probably biased, as a former classical musician who works in a correctional facility, but I thought this was a truly moving episode of television. And if you appreciate Messiaen or similar stuff, you might enjoy it without watching any other episodes of the show. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-classical-music-on-a-movie-soundtrack/815535/86 "2018-06-12T19:41:01Z")
Never cared all that much for 2001 including its famous scenes set to classical music but I definitely agree with Barry Lyndon especially this [scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkJZOxqB-qk)set to a Schubert trio. Great film too. The opening [credits](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0MWKOLiAdI)of Days of Heaven set to the Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saens ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-classical-music-on-a-movie-soundtrack/815535/87 "2018-06-12T22:07:32Z")
> [@Lantern](#): > > Never cared all that much for 2001 including its famous scenes set to classical music but I definitely agree with Barry Lyndon especially this [scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkJZOxqB-qk)set to a Schubert trio. Great film too. > > …sni…p Thanks for that link to a part of one of my favorite films, that clip showcasing John Alcott’s cinematography where the lighting was entirely done with the the lit candles present. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2018, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-classical-music-on-a-movie-soundtrack/815535/88 "2018-06-12T23:21:29Z")
Breaking the boundaries, but it’s played by an orchestra and it’s from the right period: We Three Kings, in [Whistle Down the Wind](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055618/). the film that made Hayley Mills famous, with the top-40 titles music. The soundtrack is, of course, brilliant. This piece is part of the tie in between the implicitly religious background and the explicitly secular foreground. And the scenes with the music are iconic. \*Note for atheists: if you hate religion you might still like this movie. If you don’t care about religion, or if you don’t like 1950’s black & white movies, maybe not. It’s film noir with children. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2018, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-classical-music-on-a-movie-soundtrack/815535/89 "2018-06-13T11:54:40Z")
> [@MonkeyMensch](#): > > Thanks for that link to a part of one of my favorite films, that clip showcasing John Alcott’s cinematography where the lighting was entirely done with the the lit candles present. Kubrick got some one-of-a-kind super-fast lens for those scenes. I agree that they’re wonderful, with a yellow glow you rarely see in other ostensibly-candle-lit scenes. I understand, though, that they had to “cheat” a little bit with some scenes, and sneak in some extra lighting. Good as the lens was, it wasn’t doing a good enough job for the whole scene. I also started paying attention to candle-lit scenes in other movies, without that huge and expensive lens, and noticed that a lot of cinematographers were able to produce convincing candle-lighting without it. Have a look at _The Draughtsman’s Contract_, for instance. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-use-of-classical-music-on-a-movie-soundtrack/815535.md?page=4)