# Dramatic classical music that's church-y?, like Requiem in D Minor **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 27, 2005, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114 "2005-10-27T03:54:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114/1 "2005-10-27T03:54:20Z")
What I mean is songs like Requiem in D, which is really dramatic and sounds like a dramatic religious piece (what with the choir-like singing, though not like a choir), in another language. I know I’m not defining it right, but do you get me? Dramatic, operatic pieces that could be played in action movies (like Mission: Impossible 2)? Let’s name some. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114/2 "2005-10-27T04:02:44Z")
The \*Dies Irae \* from practically any Requiem (Mozart, Verdi, Dvorak) would probably fit the bill. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114/3 "2005-10-27T04:38:02Z")
It’s the veriest of cliches at this point, but _O, Fortuna!_ from Orff’s _Carmina Burana_. Doesn’t get a whole lot more dramatic and churchy-sounding than that. ---
**Author:** ![mcott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@mcott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcott)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114/4 "2005-10-27T04:45:56Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > It’s the veriest of cliches at this point, but _O, Fortuna!_ from Orff’s _Carmina Burana_. Doesn’t get a whole lot more dramatic and churchy-sounding than that. I’ll seccond that one. Also, some parts of “symphony #9” By Antonin Dvorzak. Damnit, on preview beat again (thank you **Cunctator** ). Another choice would be the soundtrack to the film “The Mission” with DeNiro. While not classical in the time sense, quite good. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114/5 "2005-10-27T04:46:19Z")
The choral part of Beethoven’s Ninth ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114/6 "2005-10-27T04:46:24Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > It’s the veriest of cliches at this point, but _O, Fortuna!_ from Orff’s _Carmina Burana_. Doesn’t get a whole lot more dramatic and churchy-sounding than that. Agreed. I would say just about any canata by Bach. Try #4 Crist Lag in Todas bond (or something like that. #140 is good too but has a more controlled triumphant feel to it, almost Handelish. Can’t remember too many specifics on these at the moment. The one entitled “Our fortress is a mighty god” is spectacular. And of course there’s the _St. Matthew Passion_ which makes me cry every time (and I’m an atheist!). Regrettably, I never got around to getting to know his B minor mass well, which many would argue is his best vocal work ever. Basically, if you want churchy sounding music, particularly vocal music, Bach’s your man. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114/7 "2005-10-27T05:01:47Z")
As long as we’re talking cliches, how about the Hallelujah chorus? Actually, everything I’ve heard from the Messiah (yeah, I haven’t heard all of it yet \>\_\>) is pretty dramatic. It’s in English but you probably wouldn’t realise that unless someone told you. The “but who may abide” is an aria but has a one-man-choir thing going for it if sung well. Since all the good requiems have been suggested, that’s all I gots. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114/8 "2005-10-27T09:08:18Z")
Moving tangentially from Requiems, I’d recommend Britten’s _Sinfonia da Requiem_ - not a choral piece but with certain overtones of spirituality. And bloody dramatic. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114/9 "2005-10-27T10:37:30Z")
Wagner. Almost anything with choir. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114/10 "2005-10-27T12:47:45Z")
How about the requiems by Faure and Durufle? [Here](http://www.telarc.com/gscripts/title.asp?gsku=0135) is a link to a CD which I own which has both of these amazing compositions. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114/11 "2005-10-27T13:44:03Z")
I’m second-guessing the _intent_ of the OP, but it sounds to me like he seeks music that _is not_ but _sounds like_ religious pieces. The Orff, the choral movement of the 9th, and such (among things mentioned) are the sorts of things he appears to be seeking. Need I clarify that a Requiem is short for “musical setting for a Requiem Mass” and overtly a religious piece, whatever other virtues it may or may not have. Likewise, Bach cantatas were composed for use in religious services. (Although I offer _Herzlich tut mich verlangen_ as an unmentioned-as-yet Bach cantata that would make a bronze statue weep.) Certainly a number of 19th and 20th Century pieces incorporating folk elements have a religious air to them, whether coincidentally or by borrowing one way or the other. Copland’s “Appalachian Spring,” Dvorak’s “New World” symphony, and Sibelius’s “Finlandia” are examples, the first two incorporating folk hymn tunes as motifs and the last having a major melody abstracted from it as the basis for a hymn. [I cannot think of a good example of “coincidental,” but there are a couple of \*opera\* (more than one \*opus\*, not what’s not over until…) by Rachmaninov with melodic passages that strike me as appropriate.] ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114/12 "2005-10-27T13:46:23Z")
Bach’s _Toccata and Fugue in D Minor_. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114/13 "2005-10-27T15:21:55Z")
There’s an awful lot of quasi-religious music in Wagner, especially those about the Grail legends (Parsifal and Lohengrin), and the Ring cycle. If I’m in the right mood, I can spend the required hours sitting listening to Parsifal, and loving every minute. ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114/14 "2005-10-27T17:04:25Z")
If you really want to go off the wall, pick up a copy of “Bara no Seidou” from Malice Mizer. They’re a Japanese J-rock band. 🙂 Very organy, very chorusy, very dark. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114/15 "2005-10-27T18:29:55Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > The choral part of Beethoven’s Ninth And if you like that, check out his Choral Fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114/16 "2005-10-27T22:02:34Z")
Lots of stuff by Handel. For a soloist, _Hail the Bright Seraphim_ from his oratorio **Samson** , or the _Death March_ that precedes it for just the music. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114/17 "2005-10-28T01:39:13Z")
Four choral pieces spring to mind, all hybrids in their own ways. First, there’s Rossini’s _Petite Messe Solennelle_, which he wrote 30 years after retiring on the proceeds of all his megahit operas and jokingly called ‘the last mortal sin of my old age’. The unusual accompaniment alone - organ and harmonium - makes it suitable for Hollywood, and Rossini couldn’t help but do “dramatic”! Then there’s Beethoven’s _Missa Solemnis_, with a violin solo stuck in for fun. And, on similar lines, Brahms’ fantastic _German Requiem_, written over a period of nearlty ten years and reflecting at either end of that time scale the death of two people very dear to the composer, Robert Schumann and his mother. The fifth movement is basically a tribute to mum. The sixth (“Death! Where is thy victory? Grave! Where is thy sting?” - even better in the German) is very Orffian, and ideal for the movies. Finally, there’s another Bach, which hasn’t been mentioend yet, I think - the _Mass in B Minor_, with lots of folk tune and dance influences. A Bachian blend of the high and the low. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dramatic-classical-music-thats-church-y-like-requiem-in-d-minor/328114/18 "2005-10-28T05:33:39Z")
May I reccomend: [Bombastic choral music](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=254802) And [Badass Classical Music](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5081626) After that, how about the soundtrack to _Alexander Nevsky_?