© 2026 NPR Illinois
For your right to be curious.
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
NPR Illinois is seeking a full-time multimedia journalist to co-host/produce/edit/report for a new daily, regional radio news hour with Sean Crawford. Click to apply.

The Medieval Musical Earworm That Still Scares Audiences Today

NPR
Published October 30, 2020 at 12:40 PM CDT
A baton, a watch, and patriotic sheet music (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
A baton, a watch, and patriotic sheet music (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Musicologist Alex Ludwig joins Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd to discuss the “Dies irae,” the medieval funeral chant that has become popular in film scores.

Watch on YouTube.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.