Anyone know what's the Bach piece used in this film? - Slaughterhouse-Five (1972) Discussion

[–] zinoviev 20 years ago

It's been a LONG time since I've seen the film, but I think it was something from the Goldberg Variations. I'm listening to it now, and Variations 10 and 12 remind me of the scene when the Allied POWs are entering Dresden. Wasn't it Glenn Gould playing? Or I might have imagined this....

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[–] j-pudwill 20 years ago

You're right about Glenn Gould, but I wasn't sure about The Goldberg Variations (it's one of my favorite pieces, yet I didn't recognize any of it in the movie).

However a little detective work finally resulted in these findings:

Slaughterhouse-Five - 1972
-- Goldberg variations No 18 & No 25 -- BWV 988
-- Brandenburg Concerto No.4 in G major, 3rd mvt 'Presto' -- BWV 1049
-- Concerto No 3 for Harpsichord in D major, 1st mvt, 'Allegro' -- BWV 1054
-- Concerto No. 5 for Harpsichord in F minor, 2nd mvt 'Largo' -- BWV 1056*

Funny - you'd have thought this would have been listed in the movie's credits, on its DVD packaging or on IMDB itself. But nooooooooo! ;-)

Thanks for your response!

JP

*I've subsquently heard the harpsichord version of this same piece used in Woody Allen's Hannah And Her Sisters.

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[–] dbre 20 years ago

Thanks for that. I was just coming to these boards to ask that question. I'm glad someone else already had shown an interest. Since becoming a new classcal music fan two years ago my ears always perk up now when that genre is incorporated into the movie and they did a good job of it this time. I think the scene where they first enter Dresden is fantastic with all the architecture and that fantastic piece of music playing. That was a perfect marriage of classical music and movie making

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[–] Enrique-8 19 years ago

Yes, I was struck not only with the Largo from the Piano Concerto #5, but also with the symbolism of the music of the GREAT JS Bach to extol the virtues of the great German people's contribution to culture in general through the centuries. It was in stark contrast to the horrors perpetrated during this darkest of hours of any period of history.

Good comments there!

Enrique Sanchez

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[–] thefatidiot 19 years ago

The piece I had the most trouble finding out was the organ piece played at the end of the movie. Someone told me it's Bach's "Komm Heiliger Geist" (Come Holy Ghost), but I haven't been able to confirm it yet.

Michael

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[–] Goochie_Goo 19 years ago

iTunes music store has this recording, which comes close to the one in the film. On iTunes, search for "Bach - Adagio" or "Piano concerto no. 5"

Naxos 8.550423 BACH, J.S.: Piano Concertos, Vol. 2

Piano Concerto in F minor, BWV 1056, Largo.

There is a Slaughterhouse Five soundtrack album, but it is only in vinyl, as far as I know, and hard to find.

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[–] rollo131 16 years ago

I have the soundtrack on vinyl, and it is excellent.

I believe the choice of music, not to mention the lucky improbability of getting the elusive Glenn Gould to agree to do the soundtrack, is one of the things that makes this film work so well. Like the zither music in the Vienna of The Third Man, Bach's Brandenberg Concerto feels perfectly suited to the film's Dresden locations (although the movie was actually shot in Prague.) This is the point the music helps to make in the scene in which the POWs are marched through the streets - the soldiers are temporarily overtaken with the city's architectural beauty that they forget the reality of their situation - but Billy is brought back to earth when the arrogant old man slaps him, and the music abruptly stops.

Just a thought, but it's hard to imagine a Hollywood movie using a classical score for its soundtrack today.

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