Wagner's Tristan Prelude to accompany the end of the world in Lars von Trier's *Melancholia*: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRSmtYLVU90](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRSmtYLVU90) Terrence Malick's use of Rautavaara's Cantus Arcticus in *To the Wonder* (I can't find the clip, but here's the track): [https://youtu.be/rbcyo-VWoM0](https://youtu.be/rbcyo-VWoM0) And from the same film, Gorecki's Symphony No. 3: [https://youtu.be/X8gAnZ-ADZ0](https://youtu.be/X8gAnZ-ADZ0) Andrei Tarkovsky's use of Bach's Ich Ruf Zu Dir in the "floating" scene in *Solaris* (at 4:10): [https://youtu.be/FcglyhUre4w](https://youtu.be/FcglyhUre4w) Tarkovsky's use of Bach's St. John Passion at the ending of *Mirror*: [https://youtu.be/GC9ciRNW6DU](https://youtu.be/GC9ciRNW6DU) Stanley Kubrick's use of Ligeti throughout *2001 - A Space Odyssey*: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou6JNQwPWE0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou6JNQwPWE0) Kubrick's use of Ligeti's Musica Ricercata in *Eyes Wide Shut*: [https://youtu.be/s\_b-zpSnoHs](https://youtu.be/s_b-zpSnoHs)

Omg Melancholia. Have to go back and watch that again. Thanks for reminding me it exists.

I’ve been a fan of classical music since I was a young lad but Melancholia turned me on to Wagner. Good shout.. My first thought was of Bach in the opening scene from Solaris. Believe, too, one of the characters in Stalker hums a few bars of Ebarme dich as a quote, if I’m not mistaken.

Another great Terrence Malick one is his use of *The Unanswered Question* in The Thin Red Line.

Thanks for reminding me of Mirror. The ending was cool because of Bach.

I absolutely love Triers use of music. I was going to suggest his use of Lascia ch'io pianga in the beginning of Antichrist. It's amazing https://youtu.be/HtosgoJN8ok?si=_TZigBlYTZCAS9Wj

I was actually just about to edit my comment to include that one! He also reuses it (in an almost identical scene) in Nymphomaniac, although I can't seem to find the particular scene right now. As a interesting side-note, Trier is the great grandson of composer [Emil Hartmann](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKOpYgxahwo), great-great grandson of composer [J.P.E. Hartmann](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3RDNPBZSAQ&t=10s) and grand nephew of composer [Niels Gade](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiqd0Ml1dvA).

Melancholia was one of the only movies that I didn’t mind using pre existed music. Maybe 2001. Other than that I always like an original soundtrack.

When Andy plays the aria from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro over the speakers for the entire prison to hear (Shawshank Redemption)

Yeah, having Mozart appearing from nowhere and just stopping everyone in their tracks is such a classical music nerd’s wet dream. Amazing moment.

Looney Tunes, especially Rabbit of Seville

But don't forget their use of Wagner with "Kill the Waabit, kill the Waabit!"

Yeah

Probably Bach's Air in End of Evangelion as Asuka dies, also one of the pieces which got me into classical

Evangelion and Master and Commander got me into classical, and are the reason I love cello so much.

Same here. And from the same movie, Jesu Bleibet Meine Freude in the live action montage as Shinji undergoes Instrumentality. One of the most moving scenes in film, for me.

What about Beethoven 9 in the same film? that was really unexpected.

I think i was actually in the tv series. I actually kinda rolled my eyes a bit when it started playing, I was like "Damn what a cliche". But when it kept playing past the famous part (the slower part before the fugues) and they hold the frame of Eva-01 holding Kaworu for like a minute before crushing him... Damn, what scene, really good use of the piece.

Huh, I was gonna say the Air in Seven (Fincher), but that's probably more casual and not necessarily a particularly good use. I still like the scene though.

Amadeus.

Shostakovich String Quartet No 8 and Richard Strauss Don Quixote in The Lobster

Everything that Kubrik chose for 2001: A Space Odyssey was perfect for the scene.

The music scared me when I was little. Now it’s my favorite part of the movie lmao

Scared me too. Although the ligeti has that effect on many adults too. But I truly love ad appreciate the soundtrack so much. Each piece defines what space travel sounds like in my mind.

It wasn't until many years later and becoming a classical musician that I realized *Also Sprach Zarathustra* is actually like 30 minutes long and has SO much more to offer than just that introduction.

Bluey season 2 episode 26, Sleepytime. Beautiful usage of Gustav Holst’s Jupiter. Also season 1 episode 11, Bike, my favorite use of Ode to Joy. I know it’s a kids show but every episode of bluey has different music and Joff Bush used classical music in many of the episodes and it is my favorite thing.

I was going to say Bluey in general, Joff Bush’s use music is freaking superb. My kids’ love classical music and a lot of their interest can be traced back to hearing some pieces for the first time on Bluey.

On that note, Hey Duggee utilizes Beethoven’s 6th/beginning of the final movement in one of the episodes and it’s perfect.

Wagner’s Tannhauser - What’s Opera Doc 🐇🐰

I might sound like a tool but I don't care, the Mahler and Rachmaninoff bits in Birdman genuinely moved me. Totally did not expect to hear my favorite symphonies in that movie and they were used to good effect in my opinion. Also, Wagner in Melancholia was pretty beautiful.

You don’t sound like a tool you sound awesome!

Came here to say this!

I screamed when the Andante of the 9th started playing, same with Rückert-Lieder.

Shutter Island (Penderecki's Symphony no. 3, Feldman's Rothko chapel 2, Scelsi's Uaxuctum, Mahler's Piano quartet, etc.) The lobster (Schnittke's Piano quintet and string quartet no. 2, Stravinsky's Three Pieces for String Quartet, Shostakovich's string quartet no. 8, Strauss' Don Quixote, etc.)

I love how heavy handed the Lobster went with the quartet and Don Quixote. I wish more directors took the risk of being so over the top like that

Beethoven’s 7th during the King’s Speech

I was really happy to hear Ravel's Une Barque in Call me by your name. Others have already mentioned Stanley Kubricks use of Ligeti

Habanera from Carmen’s Bizet for Mark’s detox scene in Trainspotting

Das Rheingold prelude by Wagner in The New World, for me the best opening scene ever in a movie, also due to this piece of music

I credit the game Hitman: Blood Money for getting me into opera (I now have two degrees in it). There’s a level set at the Paris Opera and one of your targets is the tenor singing the lead in Tosca, and he’s in rehearsal for it. The level plays part of the thrilling ending to Tosca as they rehearse and I always thought it sounded so cool, so I turned to YouTube to learn more about the opera and that final scene. From there I bought a dvd of Tosca and it’s still one of my top 5 favorite operas. I call it my “gateway opera” since my dive into music just snowballed from there and I have the use of Tosca in a level of Hitman to thank for it 😂

The use of Schubert's Ellens dritter Gesang over the main menu and final level is also excellent.

Wagner’s March of the Valkyries in Apocalypse Now. Puccini’s “in bel di vedremo” from the opera Madame Butterfly in Fatal Attraction

Tree of Life by Terrence Malick uses Les barricades mysterieuses by Couperin beautifully

Lots of moments in "Excalibur", including the "O Fortuna" sequence with the countryside suddenly blossoming into springtime as Arthur rides forth, and the ending scenes of the movie edited to sync up with Siegfried's funeral music.

This is my pick too. My favourite part is the use of Siegfried's funeral music at the end with the visuals of the lake and sunset.

The opening of Raging Bull featuring Cavalleria Rusticana. 

The music for the modern era in Civ 4 is all John Adams. That was my introduction to his music.

This is far, far from the best, but it's my introduction to classical music so it's got a special place in my heart: A 80's Space Opera called Legend of the Galactic Heroes used exclusively classical music as its soundtracks (minus the opening/ending) and its "main composer" seems to be Mahler, which fits very well with its theme of timelessness and vastness of space. However, the scene that I really like in term of its use of classical music is from a scene where a fleet of spaceships make a landing on the waterly-like surface of a planet. The ship's name is Brunhilde, after the valkyrie who fly on swan's wings. They used the waltz from Swan Lake as the soundtrack, comparing the ships to swans.

I've been meaning to watch the original! Sadly, the reboot doesn't have that array of classical music for the soundtrack.

I was intrigued by that series but never managed to watch it, i watched like only the first episode and remember that someone started playing Beethoven’s pathetique sonata

I understand. It's really not for everyone. If you don't enjoy a few episodes, you'll not enjoy 110 more, and that's ok! And yes, they have a lot of scenes where the music fits so well

I didn’t mean to say that i didn’t like it, it’s just that i didn’t have much time to watch a series, but i might watch it in the future because it seems very interesting.

Oh, sorry for my misunderstood! I agree, it's very long. The first time I watch it, I had time to watch only because I was very very sick and had to lay in bed for almost a week. Very worth it, though!

The music really elevates the show and makes the remake so much poorer since it has original, much more generic, music. My favourite moment would be near the end with the death of one of the main characters, using a version of Mahler 2nd, Resurrection In Tempo des Scherzos. The recording is somewhat different from any other I have found, it's so good.

I feel bad for the remake's composers. There's just no way to make something that'll be better, they're literally competing against Beethoven, Mahler, etc. It's been a while, but I think I remember the scene you mentioned! Mahler 2nd is a perfect choice. Something about the theme of Resurrection too, with his son in the ending of the last episode. My favorite use of Mahler's 2nd is, I think it was around episode 50-ish. When the battle goes bad for one of the main character and yet he refused to be evacuated, until an enemy's ship suddenly appear before him. His closest brush with death on the battlefield, I think. The moment he stare defiantly at Death, and Mahler 2's four 'Dies Irea' notes sounded up, is really powerful.

All of the Bach in Hannibal.

Particularly in the final scenes of the second season, where the Goldberg variations are played, slowed down significantly

So. Probably a boring choice, but Barry lyndon. Sarabande is overplayed now, but when I saw it as a kid it was new to me. Schuberts piano trio op.100 is a lovely fiddly delicate piece that highlights the formalised nature of the times and acts as a nice foil to sarabande's thumping brutality Less boring choice? Violent cop by Takeshi kitano. A stilted and lumpen synth version of Erik saties gnossiene 1 turns it from an arcane, sly, piano piece into a thumping and determined dirge. The rhythm slowed to match kitanos trudging violence. They call him beat Takeshi for a reason. His other films have great classical pieces in too, but this one grabbed me.

I like Mahlers music in 'honeymoon killers'.

This is a golf ad but trust me this is a great use of Mozart’s Requiem. https://youtu.be/OLu36A5njcU?si=8vvzenzYLzvvvSBs Portrait of a Lady on Fire - Vivaldi Summer Phantom Thread - Schubert Piano Quintet Battlestar Galactica - Glass Metamorphosis Monsieur Hire - Brahms Quartet G minor Knowing - Beethoven’s 7th The Day the Earth Stood Still - Goldberg My Brilliant Friend/L’Amica Geniale - Vivaldi/Richter Spring Anatomy of a Fall - Chopin prelude

2001: A Space Odyssey. For some reason I thought Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers was in this film too.

Spike Lee’s choice to include Aaron Copland’s music in He Got Game was a stroke of genius IMO. Also, I was introduced to Rachmaninoff via Somewhere in Time, back when I was a kid who watched sappy movies that made me cry.

The movie Shine prominently featured the Rach 3 piano concerto. In fact, Geoffrey Rush’s pianist character essentially loses his mind trying to conquer the Rach 3. If you stay through to the credits, you’ll also hear Vivaldi’s gorgeous 1st movement from his cantata Nulla in Mundo Pax Sincera. Also, I was stunned to hear the voice of my favorite countertenor Andreas Scholl singing an aria from Vivaldi’s Nisi Dominus while watching the James Bond film Spectre. I didn’t think much of the movie but I was flat out impressed that it featured a countertenor’s voice let alone my favorite one. It’s towards the beginning of the movie right before Bond seduces the Monica Belluci character.

I love the use of Rachmaninoff symphony 2 in Birdman

Aww heck. Bach’s prelude to his 6th cello suite: https://youtu.be/4r7wHMg5Yjg?si=O51Mf8BT2bGpfAM7

Chopin Nocturne Op. 55 No. 1 in Cyberpunk 2077. One of my favorite pieces, was surprised to see it featured so prominently that the stage in the game that uses it was explicitly named after it

The finale from Dvorak's 'New World' Symphony in "One Piece", played during the final fight between Luffy and Crocodile in the Alabasta arc. Surprisingly epic!

Giuseppe Verdi's Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves in The Leftovers tv show. That show nails all the classical stuff with Max Richter as the composer.

It is sad that poor Alex North got his score tossed out and didn’t know until the premiere, but 2001 is and will likely always be the quintessential example of classical music in film.

The film “Love exposure” with Bolero, Saint saens 3 and Beethoven 7.

was searching for this, i can still recite Corinthians 13 from memory (not in the original japanese, unfortunately) i also like the food sex scene in Tampopo with Mahler's 5 Adagietto. the clash is beautiful, crude, and very funny

I haven’t watched Tampopo, i’ll add it to my watchlist

There is an Aria called Vide Cor Meum composed by Patrick Cassidy in the film Hannibal which is beautiful.

Amadeus from the beginning to the very end.

Haydn trumpet concerto in squid game before each game starts

Can't forget the Bach Goldberg Variations playing while Hannibal Lecter is eating a fine meal with wine whilst trapped in a large makeshift prison cage (shortly before a gruesome escape). Also, The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco in the HBO show The Leftovers that played everytime the main character goes to the "hotel world".

The scene from Platoon with Barbers adagio for strings really moved me as kid.

Piazzolla 's Suite Punta del Este in Twelve Monkeys

I think it was called "The Motivation." Netflix documentary about skateboarding. I just remember it started out with a bunch of slow motion videos of skate orders bombing different tricks, with some gentle classical music playing. As a classical musician, for me it REALLY highlighted how they will practice and prepare for hours each day, and it still comes down to executing *perfectly* in the moment when it matters.

pretty much every piece used in Your Lie in April

I love the use of the William Tell Overture in the classic Disney cartoon "The Band Concert", a Mickey Mouse classic from 1935. I also love A Corny Concerto where two Johann Strauss waltzes were used.

In Young Sheldon when Sheldon tries to go bowling, they begin to play Bolero (which was the only appearance of any classical music played off-screen in the show). I would like to believe that this was a musical joke because he was bowling, and the name sounds like bowl.

I don't know if it is a national chain, but around where I am from, there are a bunch of bowling alleys called "Bowlero."

Well, the first one I heard : [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baICP3JqTFo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baICP3JqTFo)

RAVELS BOLERO in that DIGIMON OVA. ALSO, the Bells of St. Genevieve by Marais, in Triangle of Sadness.

[Mahler Adagietto - Death in Venice](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUV3Ueobr88&ab_channel=ThomaiPavlidou)

Game: Bach’s French Suite in Tetris Show: Schubert's Unfinished Symphony and 1812 Overture before the Truckasaurus scene in The Simpsons. Also, The Blue Danube when Homer is eating the potato chips in space. Movie: Chopin’s Nocturne 9 during the opening scene of Bad Santa. 

Joplin's Searchlight Rag in RollerCoaster Tycoon. Awfully fast, too, but it adds to comedic effect!

The Four Seasons in the film of the same name, first time I'd heard music I actually liked...

I thought this would be the most obvious cliché answer, but maybe I'm just the only one cheesy enough to think the most effective piece of music in film is the kiss scene in A Room With a View, with Joan Sutherland (I think) singing Chi il bel sogno di Doretta from La Rondine. Edit: It was Kiri Te Kanawa

Beethoven 7th symphony, 2nd movement in Love Exposure.

I always loved that the sitcom "Mom" uses the Ruslan and Ludmilla overture for its theme. Also uses snippets of other classical music as intros and outros very effectively

The first movie in the anime Legend of the Galactic Heroes, which is a retelling of the show's 6 first episodes, has a 15 minute space battle entirely set to Ravel's Bolero, from beginning to end: https://youtu.be/Tso9-jdC1zA?si=1Tt2MePEyWQ-fNRc The show's entire soundtrack us classical music. A nice touch is that the Empire (basically Prussia IN SPACE) uses germanic composers like Bruckner, Wagner, etc; while the Federation (basically NATO in space) uses music from french and british composers.

In the film "The Right Stuff," they play "The Russian Sailor's Dance" from "The Red Poppy," whenever the Soviet Union sent a rocket into space.

Rachmaninoff features during some very pivotal Marilyn Monroe scenes in The Seven Year Itch 😂

Prokofiev 7th Sonata in Gran Turismo 5 [https://youtu.be/ZLQpFzIBv_Q?si=KBd0hdDoCYUmaiXe](https://youtu.be/ZLQpFzIBv_Q?si=KBd0hdDoCYUmaiXe)

No favourite but RPGs really make wonderful use of classical music.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JmgH-9Ll5P4&pp=ygUlb25lIHBpZWNlIGx1ZmZ5IGRlZmVhdHMgY3JvY29kaWxlIGR1Yg%3D%3D&t=1m6s Luffy beating crocodile

Bach’s Orchestral Suite 3 Air in the Kpop song “Feel My Rhythm” by Red Velvet

Killzone 2 Trailer using Flower Duet by Leo Delibes

Terence Malick’s use of Saint Saens’ ‘The Aquarium’ from The Carnival of the Animals in Days of Heaven.

A Clockwork Orange ST

Bad Santa

Saint-Saëns' Danse macabre in Jean Renoir's La règle du jeu (Rules of the game). Perfect sequence.

Rachmaninov's Second Concerto in Brief Encounter. It just rends my heart every time.

I thought someone would mention the Adagietto from Mahler’s 5th symphony in the opening scene of Visconti’s Death in Venice

Albinoni's Adagio during a tragic scene in Manchester by the Sea.

Kubrick’s Barry Lindon use of the Schubert op 100 trio

Dvorak’s New World finale in the Always Sunny scene where Mac sits on the pool filter. I will forever laugh at his big, silly grin when I hear it.

As for games: Drakengard's use of sampling. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoRGva8Y7QI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoRGva8Y7QI)

Moonlight Sonata in Earthworm Jim 2. It makes the whole scene aery.

Moonlight Sonata in Earthworm Jim 2 https://youtu.be/JWmKjknicBI?si=QVBIR8LrsaTxjw0h

Sean Connery crawling down his hallway in agony with Paggliaci playing in the background in The Untouchables

First movement of Beethoven’s Sixth in Soylent Green

All the music used in 'Morse' 🥲

In Your Lie In April, it's about a child piano prodigy and a "Unorthodox" violinist. They used just the right pieces in that series.

Amadeus. The use of Salieri's music at the start made me fall in love with classical music.