Twenty Thousand Hertz Podcast Latest Episode: Medieval Funeral Chant turned Blockbuster Movie Meme

 The Twenty Thousand Hertz TED podcast has connected sonic textures to the land of video, specifically the movies. In episode 99 in August, host Dallas Taylor fascinated listeners with the tale of the Wilhelm Scream, which has been used thousand of times in movies, TV shows and even commercials. 

This week, Taylor takes us on a similarly compelling episode about "Dies Irae,"  a 13th century four-note melody used on hundreds of movies. Taylor traces the history behind this specific four-note sequence, explaining how the Dies Irae has evolved from 500 years worth of Gregorian funeral chants, to a motif of composers like Mozart, Verdi and Liszt, to an enduring staple of blockbuster movie soundtracks.

 

Used to evoke death, dread and despair, the ominous sound of the Dies Irae has become as classic as the Wilhelm scream. To help break down its transformation into musical meme, as well as the theory behind its structure and dissonance, Dallas is joined by musicologist Alex Ludwig and Strong Songs host Kirk Hamilton. Once you recognize it, you'll start noticing the Dies Irae everywhere, but check out the episode below:

 

Listen to "Dies Irae"

 

 

"Dies irae" is a Latin sequence attributed to either Thomas of Celano of the Franciscans or to Latino Malabranca Orsini, lector at the Dominican studium at Santa Sabina, the forerunner of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome. 

The sequence dates from at least the thirteenth century, though it is possible that it is much older, with some sources ascribing its origin to St. Gregory the Great (d. 604), Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153), or Bonaventure (1221–1274).

It is best known from being used in the Requiem (Mass for the Dead or Funeral Mass). An English version is found in various Anglican Communion service books. 

"Dies Irae" is the latest installment of Twenty Thousand Hertz's new fall season, which the series has expanded into a special weekly schedule for the month of October. Last Wednesday, the podcast investigated the neuroscience of Perfect Pitch, and previously explored the real and synthetic sounds of dinosaurs in Tyrannosaurus FX. 

In the next episode, Twenty Thousand Hertz collaborates with the TED Radio Hour, and starting in November the podcast will release their most ambitious and absorbing pieces yet, focusing on sonic utopias, the future of space communication, the science of synesthesia.