Lectures on Tap - "Hearing Death at the Movies: Mysterious Melody in Films"

📍 Location: Exact address given in confirmation email

🧠 Lecture: "Hearing Death at the Movies: Mysterious Melody in Films"

🎤 Speaker: Dr. Alex Ludwig

Join us for a captivating evening exploring how a single ancient melody has shaped the sound of death on screen. The Dies Irae, an 800-year-old chant, has appeared in the scores of hundreds of films, including Metropolis, The Shining, and Star Wars. With its powerful association with mortality and the uncanny, it has become a go-to musical symbol in horror and beyond.

In this lecture, Dr. Alex Ludwig will trace the journey of the Dies Irae from its origins in the church through the concert hall and into the cinema, revealing how this musical memento mori continues to influence the way we hear and interpret film music today. You’ll gain fresh insight into the hidden musical codes that shape your emotional experience at the movies.

Dr. Alex Ludwig is a media scholar and music historian at Berklee College of Music, where he teaches a range of courses on music history, with a special focus on the history of film music.

Get a drink, connect, and learn at Lectures on Tap! 🙌

Agenda

6:30 PM – Doors open: find a seat (open seating!), order food & drinks, and expect a bar line—arriving early is key.

6:55 PM – Host introduction

7:00 PM – Lecture begins

7:45 PM – Audience Q&A

8:00 PM – Have 1:1 time with the speaker, mingle with fellow guests, and order another round

8:30 PM – Wrap up.