Ok, I just coincidentally found a confirmed positive example:
The ballet 'Cakewalk'. The ballet is mostly made of music music by Louis Moreau Gottschalk (with a couple other 19th century tunes thrown in) though orchestrated by Hershey Kay. The section called "The Wild Pony" has a very clear statement of it:
If I recall correctly James Horner used the Dies Irae in "The name of the rose".
Morrione also used the theme, or variations of it, in the following soundtracks: Rampage Addio Fratello Crudele I Pugni in Tasca Allonsanfan Commandamenti per un gangster Il Giardino delle delizie
I'm sure it's featured in other Morricone scores besides the ones already mentioned in this thread but I can't think of any at the moment.
Impressive piece of work! You can safely put Lewis's Medusa Touch into the Definite column.
I don't own the entire soundtrack to "The Medusa Touch". There's a 9:35 (excellent) suite on youtube, and I hear the first 4 notes of the Dies Irae played ominously on the organ. Because I haven't yet seen the movie, I don't know the context of the cue. Does the tune appear elsewhere in the score? Thanks!
Off the top of my head, it's whenthe cathedral starts to crumble. Maybe someone could corroborate.
I trust that you are absolutely correct! Although the youtube link said I could not watch that clip, your description should make it easy for me to find the scene. I can also listen to the full original soundtrack. I'll try to update the list as promptly as I can, though little things like work and family get in the way.
Just channel-hopping and caught a snatch of Doctor Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971). During the transformation, David Whitaker makes the merest hint - the first five notes - of the Dies Irae buried in his melodramatic score. You have to decide if it's coincidence or strong enough to make your list...
Of course, it's on YT- starts at 1:30.
Oh fudge - can't make it appear. Still, not hard to find... DJ and SH, (first transformation) will find it. Cor, Martine Beswick!
Just channel-hopping and caught a snatch of Doctor Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971). During the transformation, David Whitaker makes the merest hint - the first five notes - of the Dies Irae buried in his melodramatic score. You have to decide if it's coincidence or strong enough to make your list...
This is a really great cue! Those 5 notes are certainly suggestive of the Dies Irae. Then again, they do seem part of a slightly longer motif that appears a few times in a row. Let's say it's a "maybe," but I could be convinced otherwise if there was a stronger connection elsewhere in the score. A good reason to listen to more of it!
Morricone uses these first 5 notes in the recently pointed out film I Pugni in Tasca. They are part of a larger (beautiful) theme. Given that it's Morricone (who uses the Dies Irae regularly) and given the instrumentation in a number of cues, that one is an obvious deliberate reference, I think.
Luis de Pablo used it El Sonido de la Muerte/Sound of Horror (1966) - as a joke, a pop version is heard as a radio source piece Georges Delerue - Black Robe - in "Libera Me" Michel Magne - Les Miserables (1982) Ennio Morricone - I Malamondo - "Party Proibito" & "I Dispari" Dimitri Tiomkin - The Unforgiven - (before the hanging)
from the unverified list, I confirm: Wendy Carlos: a "Dies Irae" quote in middle of the main title of A Clockwork Orange. More prominently in "Country Lane". Ennio Morricone - Vamos a Matar, Companeros - "La Loro Patria" Dimitri Tiomkin - I Confess - (shortly after main title)
The expulsion from the Garden of Eden in Toshiro Mayuzumi's score for John Huston's THE BIBLE...IN THE BEGINNING" is arguably cinema's most barnstorming contribution. Positively Berliozian!
It turns out the Dies Irae melody is just hinted at (by the trombone) for a brief moment in Morricone's ALLONSANFAN ost, in the track "Te Deum Laudamus" to be precise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nfam1ysfTtw
No real quotation in ALLONSANFAN therefore.
However, the melody is clearly quoted (in this case performed by a wordless choir) in the pieces "Frate Bonaventura" and "In fondo al pozzo" from ADDIO FRATELLO CRUDELE (the latter track has a gorgeous intro for church organ). The score also contains a variation or pastiche of the medieval theme; "Inter mortuos liber (dies irae)":https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9iWKeaYBHY
In Morricone's COMANDAMENTI PER UN GANGSTER (1968) there's a short quotation of the dies irae at the beginning of the opening cue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXx059piLw0
I'm listening to the "Confrontation Symphony" by Lovro von Matacic and the Dies Irae is quoted in the scherzo movement, and as I type, It is being used as a subject of a fugue in the final movement!i
Wendy Carlos also uses it her album Tales of Heaven and Hell. In the track "Clockwork Black" (which refers back to pieces of Clockwork Orange) it's sung more like a Gregorian Chant, sounding far different from the vivid movie incarnations. The lyrics are included in the booklet.
I know the CE3K motif is questionable, but it certainly seems intentional in Star Wars where something very much like the dies irae plays as Luke discovers his aunt and uncle have been killed.
