It’s scary because it’s associated with The Omen. It’s not objective; it’s just that people connect it with a horror film and it gains that reputation.
It’s the same thing with Tubular Bells. It’s associated with The Exorcist* and gets a scary reaction, even though the song itself is not particularly scary.
You’re right in a general sense, that there can be characteristics of music that acquire external associations through subsequent cultural developments - but you can’t pin it on one film. Otherwise, because I’ve never seen The Omen, I’d be going ‘huh?’
I’ve no idea what you mean by gothic, and it’s certainly not true that the language has this effect - there’s plenty of music to contradict your statement, and in any case I’d wager that most people couldn’t tell you what language Carmina Burana was in, anyway.
Nothing, but then I didn’t know anything about it being used in the Omen since I haven’t seen it. It’s in Latin, and that has some connections to Catholic Mass which in turn might make its way into a horror movie about the anti-christ. In the media I associate Carmina Burana with sword fighting movies.
In a similar fashion, I’ve heard that “Swan Lake” was thought to have associations with horror (yes!), which is why it’s used as the opening credit music for Tod Browning’s 1930 Dracula (it’s also heard at a performance during the film – the only music in the original film, at least until the recent Glass score). So I suppose Carmina Burana could, in its turn, be seen as at least anxious.
I guess you’re right – according to this - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075005/soundtrack - the theme song is “Ave Satani” by Jerry Goldsmith. Now why was I thinking “Carmina Burana”? Is Goldsmith’s tune set to the same music with different lyrics? Where can I find the lyrics for “Ava Satani”?
Not sure where you can find the lyrics, but “Ava Satani” is a much darker, more brooding piece than “O Fortuna”. It was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Song (it lost, though Goldsmith’s score won–the first Oscar for a horror movie score). I would’ve loved to see the Oscar ceremony where a choir actually sang “Hail Satan” on national TV.
What’s the visceral reaction to hearing O, Fortuna? Obviously, my reactions are bogged down with pop culture associations, but–trying to put those aside as much as I can-- simply, it’s just a very tense, powerful song. Sweeping changes of dynamics, explosive timpani. Minor tonality. Almost no harmonic movement. The piece just sits there on the D minor, with the motif building and building from a barely audible whisper, to a sudden wall of sound echoed in the next “verse” with the orchestra at full blast, voices open and remaining tense over the D minor pedal point. You want the harmony to move somewhere, anywhere, but it just sits there pounding you with its stacatto rhythms and slow melodic movement upward.
I mean, it’s clearly a very unnerving song. I’m not sure if I’d say it’s spooky, but it definitely gets the adrenaline going and builds a sense of expectation. But then, at the end, you finally get some release when the brass open up, the cymbals start clashing, the kettledrums are a-rolling, and the chord moves up to an A major, ending the song, not only on a major chord, but on the V chord of the piece, which sort of–at least to me–implies a sense of hope or triumph or…well, whatever it is, it’s something good.
Howard Shore did something much like this in FOTR, “The Bridge of Khazad-Dum.” He had a chorus of 90 men singing in Tolien’s Dwarvish language. Very stirring.
There’s just something about percussive and brutal orchestral music, with a Latin choir, that evokes a sort of gothic feel. John Barry’s score for The Lion in Winter is a good example, and probably is inspired by Orff.
