# Toccata and Fugue's association with horror **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 29, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toccata-and-fugues-association-with-horror/378365 "2006-10-29T21:59:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toccata-and-fugues-association-with-horror/378365/21 "2006-10-31T17:29:33Z")
I always associated it with _Phantom of the Opera_. It’s also on a horror tape my parents still play while handing out candy on Halloween night. On the other hand, I wouldn’t call it “short”. It’s 15 minutes long if played properly; more like half an hour when I make my annual attempt at playing it on the piano. Personally, I love it – it’s gorgeous and intricate. On the other hand, it does add to the atmosphere this time of year. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toccata-and-fugues-association-with-horror/378365/22 "2006-10-31T18:55:23Z")
I used to have this piece as the ringtoneto my phone. It was one of the tunes that came built into the phone. I’ve always associated it w/ _Phantom_ because I used to go to an amusement park where they played the Toccata in the haunted house ride during the Phantom of the Opera scene. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toccata-and-fugues-association-with-horror/378365/23 "2006-10-31T19:10:23Z")
[QUOTE=jsc1953] And how TaFiDm would sound on a ukulele, or a harmonica, or a banjo. Or the bagpipes. Or a jew’s harp. You get the picture. [/QUOTE] Impossible to play on the bagpipes, I’m afraid - that long cascade of notes at the beginning is beyond the nine-note range of the pipes. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toccata-and-fugues-association-with-horror/378365/24 "2006-10-31T19:21:57Z")
IIRC, James Mason as Captain Nemo plays this on the organ in the Grand Salon of the _Nautilus_ in Disney’s **20,000 Leagues Under the Sea**. I’ll have to chec k my copy to make sure. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toccata-and-fugues-association-with-horror/378365/25 "2006-10-31T20:51:59Z")
[QUOTE=Northern Piper] Impossible to play on the bagpipes, I’m afraid - that long cascade of notes at the beginning is beyond the nine-note range of the pipes. [/QUOTE] Darn. (NP…do you get an e-mail alert whenever the word “bagpipe” is used in a thread? 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toccata-and-fugues-association-with-horror/378365/26 "2006-10-31T21:06:49Z")
Yes, **TubaDiva** , a fellow afficiando of an unusual instrument, has set me up with a special alert mechanism. 😃 Sadly, the truth is more prosaic: it’s just that I like the Tocatta & Fugue, so clicked on the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toccata-and-fugues-association-with-horror/378365/27 "2006-10-31T23:50:09Z")
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931), Black Cat, The (1934), Raven, The (1935), Fantasia (1940), 20000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), Mysterious Island (1961). ---
**Author:** ![NJ\_Kef\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b487fb/32.png) [@NJ\_Kef\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NJ_Kef_1)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toccata-and-fugues-association-with-horror/378365/28 "2006-10-31T23:51:22Z")
I confess that I may have played some part in the association of Bach’s _Toccata and Fugue in D Minor_ with horror. When I was 13 (nigh onto forty years ago), I played “vampire awakening in his crypt” with my younger brother and sister, using the _Toccata and Fugue_ to set the mood. One time as I rose from the crypt, I overheard a friend of my mother’s say to her, somewhat haughtily, “Isn’t that music a little sophisticated for the children?” I’m sure my demure mother suppressed a smile and thought to herself, “If you only knew.” I would have preferred Scriabin’s _Le Poème de l’extase_, but I thought a Bach fugue was more apropos. Was I wrong? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toccata-and-fugues-association-with-horror/378365/29 "2006-11-01T02:32:21Z")
I adored my parents copy of Toccata and Fugue - it was played on the vox humana in Brussels, a 1950s pressing on clear red vinyl, in _stereo_ - it had dual tracks for a dual tone arm player. Phenomenal sound. They also had other recordings, but I liked the way that made the house shake=) ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toccata-and-fugues-association-with-horror/378365/30 "2006-11-01T02:40:38Z")
Wasn’t it what the count played on sesame street? That is where I first heard it. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toccata-and-fugues-association-with-horror/378365/31 "2006-11-01T02:45:38Z")
Just thought I’d contribute this from a local newspaper feature yesterday about going into a national park to observe a coyote “census,” which involved playing coyote calls over a bullhorn and waiting for a response. The writer’s observation upon hearing the recording was how other-worldly the coyotes sounded. “It was exactly the kind of thing you’d expect to hear on the PA system of a haunted house. The only thing missing was the creepy organ fugue.” It is becoming a meme, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toccata-and-fugues-association-with-horror/378365/32 "2006-11-01T09:35:14Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] Just in case you didn’t get an answer (I’ve seen the question asked more than once), the series you are speaking of are part of a larger series called “Il était une fois…” or “Once upon a time..”. They’re really great. [WikiLink](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time..._Space) [/QUOTE] Thank you! I tried searching for my old thread but nothing was forthcoming. Great series, loved it as a kid 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toccata-and-fugues-association-with-horror/378365/33 "2006-11-01T11:34:08Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] IIRC, James Mason as Captain Nemo plays this on the organ in the Grand Salon of the _Nautilus_ in Disney’s **20,000 Leagues Under the Sea**. I’ll have to chec k my copy to make sure. [/QUOTE] And the organ is entirely canonical, if not the most practical piece of equipment to install on an experimental submarine; although in the book M. Arronax observes that Nemo plays only on the black keys, lending his music “a Scotch flavour”, and this would make the Toccata & Fugue impossible even if transposed. Yes, it’s amazing the rubbish I remember. It’s thirty years since I read the book if it’s a day. ---
**Author:** ![ChordedZither](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9c0ed/32.png) [@ChordedZither](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChordedZither)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toccata-and-fugues-association-with-horror/378365/34 "2006-11-01T18:48:00Z")
[QUOTE=jsc1953] I did too! A friend and I once started riffing on the impracticality of the Phantom getting a full-scale pipe organ into his underground lair. [/QUOTE] Actually, pipe organs come apart into surprisingly manageable pieces - I was once part of a group that rescued a historic pipe organ from a condemned church - an organ tuner and an organ “reconstructionist” climbed inside and started handing pieces out to the rest of us, who “bucket-brigaded” the pieces to another building a block away, where they were stored until the funds were raised to rebuild it in another location. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/toccata-and-fugues-association-with-horror/378365.md?page=1)