I just finished watching "Teresa de Jesus," the series of the life of St. Teresa of Avila made for Spanish television in the 1980s. There was a fair amount of chant. The Te Deum appeared several times, along with the occasional psalm, and it was well done. Not overly polished. It also only appeared as actual source music, not "atmospheric background."
Any other films with good use of chant that come to mind?
Mary Jane, is that the series that's in several different parts on You Tube? What I thought was brilliant was how someone singing was doing so off-key.
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I seem to recall decent chant in the Connery version of "Name of the Rose." Also, some in DeNiro/Duvall "True Confessions."
Weirdest episode that comes to mind- the invisible choir chanting "Veni Creator..." during the ordination of Elias Koteas in "The Prophecy" in a totally empty (minus clergy) cathedral.
From the Noir series soundtrack by Yuki Kajiura, "Church" is a "Pange Lingua Gloriosi" remix:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UT6PoGbqyo&feature=related
"Salva Me", the song which always accompanies fighting. Includes evil Gnostic cultist nuns at the end.:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXvVWhQRRyY
"Les Soldats", the themesong for the evil Gnostic cultists:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wITZK6SMtYs&feature=related
"Lilium", the themesong from Elfen Lied, a show I've never seen. This is the male voice version, used as backup for somebody's videogame music video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvBvns1XFmQ
The female voice version, used for a Bleach series video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wmSEaLDUds&feature=related
From the Kuroshitsuji soundtrack. I don't recommend the series, but the Agnus Dei at 7:06 is very nice. It's also the series' fight theme.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03BBRcBGGrs&feature=related
The Ominous Latin Chanting page at TV Tropes:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OminousLatinChanting
I've always found the robustly-sung Dies Irae in Bergman's The Seventh Seal interesting. Not that I would want to emulate this chant performance style!
In the superb Sam Mendes film "Road to Perdition" (Tom Hanks plays a hired assassin who has to go on the run with his young son), there is a great moment where he is in a beautiful old church confronting Mafia boss (Paul Newman) and you can hear "Alma Redemptoris Mater" floating in the background, as if being sung by nuns. Actually it was a King's College Choir recording from the early 90's where the boys sang chant interspersed with Russian and Slavic choral pieces. The film's other music is by the amazing Thomas Newman, whose musical ideas turn every film he scores into something very striking.
just watched Diana Riggs in 'In this house of Brede' based on the novel of the same title. While the film simplified the novels storylines and large cast of characters, it manages to capture a nice sense of the daily round and continuity of monastic life among Benedictine nuns. Nice pieces of chant all over the place in this film.
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Am I so old to be the only one to remember "The Nun's Story" (1959) with Audrey Hepburn? Nice rendition of Veni Creator as I recall in the profession of vows scene.
In the PBS series "Call the Midwife", the sisters/midwives are occasionally shown chanting the Liturgy of the Hours, more often in the earlier episodes than the later ones.
I've always been partial to the settings of the Veni Creator and Tu Es Petrus in Shoes of the Fisherman. I'm not sure if Alex North composed the settings or if they were preëxisting.
Though it's more chant-ish than authentic chant, the liturgical music in Of God's and Men plays a crucial role, since it conveys most of the overt theology in the movie. Michael Joncas has some reflections here.
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