JS Bach’s music is nothing short of transcendent. Instantly evocative, and sublimely beautiful, Bach’s melodies are unmatched, and his harmonies are exquisite.
This isn’t lost on film directors and TV music departments. Whether by instinct, intricate knowledge, or both, many opt for Bach’s genius when they build the soundtracks to the stories they tell, adding a huge depth of emotion or joy (or both) to scenes when they do.
Here are some of the best Bach cameos among them.
Buy tickets to Tognetti. Mendelssohn. Bach.
JS Bach’s Violin Concerto in A Minor
Used in: Sex Education (Netflix)
You can hear Bach’s elegant A minor violin concerto in Season 4 Episode 2 of Netflix hit TV series, Sex Education. The charming English show, starring Gillian Anderson, Asa Butterfield and Ncuti Gatwa, follows the coming-of-age story of a teenage boy with a sex therapist mother, who teams up with a school friend to set up an underground sex therapy clinic at school, in spite of his own better judgement.
Richard Tognetti performs this concerto as part of our ACO 2024 Tognetti. Mendelssohn. Bach. program.
JS Bach’s Goldberg Variations
Used in: Silence of the Lambs (1991) and more.
Bach’s Goldberg Variations may have been famously associated with celebrated keyboardist, Glenn Gould, but the piece fell into more sinister company when it played a prominent role on the soundtrack of Silence of the Lambs (1991), the Hannibal Lector serial killer thriller starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins.
JS Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.4 in G Major, I. Allegro
Used in: Cruel Intentions (1999) and more.
The elegant fourth Brandenburg Concerto pops up in cult teen flick, Cruel Intentions (1999) starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair, among other film and TV appearances.
The Brandenburg Concertos are six instrumental works composed by Bach and presented to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, in 1721.
JS Bach’s Italian Concerto in F Major – I. Allegro
Used in: The Talented Mr Ripley (1999)
Anthony Minguela’s 1999 The Talented Mr Ripley, based on the book by Patricia Highsmith, features a soundtrack full of great pieces of classical music. One of them is the lively ‘Allegro’ from Bach’s popular Italian Concerto.
JS Bach’s Chorale: ‘Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ’
Used in: Solaris (1972) & All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
Bach’s chorale, Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV639 features typically emotive, aching, Bach harmonies and melodies, making it fitting for poignant moments on the movie and TV screen.
It’s used to striking affect in Andrei Tarkovsky’s iconic sci-fi Solaris (1972) as well as in the 2022 version on All Quiet on the Western Front, which uses the Busoni solo piano arrangement of the piece.
Hear the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s arrangement of the piece in this ACO StudioCasts excerpt above.
JS Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring
Used In: Boogie Nights (1997), Downton Abbey (ITV), 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox/NBC), How I Met Your Mother (CBS), The Simpsons (Fox) and more.
Bach’s reverential chorale, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring is a favourite at weddings, and also a favourite for film and TV. It’s appeared in many soundtracks, perhaps most iconically in Boogie Nights, which used 1970s rock group, Apollo 100’s sped-up version of the ‘song’ to score the action.
JS Bach’s Violin Concerto in E Major
Used in: Stranger Things (Netflix)
Popular cult Netflix sensation, Stranger Things, has a soundtrack full of synthesizers and 80s-inspired electronica. But not even that can keep Bach out. The first movement ‘Allegro’ from his E Major Violin Concerto appears on the soundtrack when a mysterious woman visits Scott Clarke at his home and tells him about a new AV club, in the sixth episode (‘The Monster’) of Season 1.
JS Bach’s Sheep May Safely Graze
Used in: Bluey (ABC)
Popular children’s TV show Bluey – about the adventures of the excitable Blue Heeler puppy, Bluey, and her younger sister, Bingo – features plenty of classical music.
In Season 1 Episode 41 ‘Mums and Dads’, the story is entwined with ‘Sheep May Safely Graze’, which is an aria from Bach’s the cantata Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd, BWV 208.
JS Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D minor – II. Largo
Used in: Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
The contrast of the metallic bombast of Marvel Comics’ Thor may seem an impossible one for the delicate beauty of Bach’s Baroque masterpieces, but perhaps that’s why it works.
Director Taika Waititi and team opted for the moving ‘Largo’ from the Bach Double Violin Concerto for the third film in the Thor franchise.
Hear Richard Tognetti performing JS Bach’s Violin Concerto in A minor in our Tognetti. Mendelssohn. Bach. tour, which goes to Newcastle, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Brisbane, Sydney and Wollongong, 5-23 September. Click here to buy tickets.
