A Disney Requiem? Iterations of the "Dies irae" in the Score to<i> The</i><i> Lion</i><i> King</i> (1994)

Abstract

In Hans Zimmer’s score to The Lion King (1994), the “Dies irae” plainchant functions not only as a standard shorthand for death (as in many scores) but is also of underlying structural importance in several of the film’s cues. Thus, the chant retains a sense of secularised association with death while reclaiming some of its spiritual connotations with the Requiem Mass.