#9: IN THE HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING

"In the Hall of the Mountain King" plays a large part in the development of Peter Lorre's villain in Fritz Lang's "M"

It's interesting how some of the most recognized pop culture creations are often loathed by their authors.  Led Zepplin lead Robert Plant grew to detest "Stairway to Heaven" (which he referred to has "that bloody wedding song") while Kurt Cobain referred to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" as a "sell out". Even John Lennon was known to openly dismiss some of The Beatles most iconic pieces of work. 

When Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg wrote the 1875 score for Henrik Ibsen's 1867 play, Peer Gynt, Grieg expresses his distaste for the eerily climatic excerpt, "In the Hall of the Mountain King", saying, "...I have written something that so reeks of cowpats, ultra-Norwegianism and 'to-thyself-be-enough-ness" that I can't bear to hear it, though I hope that the irony will make itself felt."

With Grieg's disinterest aside, the song has still succeeded to evolve into something beyond its classically epic routes, morphing into a boundlessly versatile piece of familiarized stock soundtrack. Constantly adapted and featured throughout various media channels, the song features one repetitiously steady, pluckily troublesome tune with just the right amount of dissonance to suggest an ominous presence of thrill and villainy. From film soundtracks (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' satirical adaptation in their Academy-Award winning score for The Social Network) to progressive rock covers (The Electric Light Orchestra's jam session version from their 1973 album, On the Third Day), the track has become innately recognizable. 

Here is the track of Grieg's Op. 46, "In the Hall of the Mountain King":

One of the most accessible tribute's to Grieg's horror-infused score was its signature use in Fritz Lang's 1931 thriller, M. 

Poster for Fritz Lang's M

In M (a crime thriller that follows a small German town trying to catch a disturbed child-killer on the loose, played by Peter Lorre), Lang features Grieg's creeping tune as an allegorical alarm to the villain's presence.  Whenever Lorre's desperately unhinged villain identifies his young victim, he would begin to whistle the ominous tune. 

Here is a clip of Lorre's trademark interpretation of the "In the Hall of the Mountain King":

-MTK