"Ave Satani" is the theme song to the 1976 film ''

The Omen ''The Omen'' is a 1976 supernatural horror film directed by Richard Donner and written by David Seltzer. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and the United States, it stars Gregory Peck, Lee Remick, David Warner, Harvey Sp ...

'', which is composed by

Jerry Goldsmith Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer, conductor and orchestrator with a career in film and television scoring that spanned nearly 50 years and over 200 productions, between 1954 and 2003. He was consid ...

. ''The Omen'' won the

Academy Award for Best Original Score The Academy Award for Best Original Score is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by ...

, with ''Ave Satani'' nominated for Best Original Song.

History

The Latinized title translates to "

Hail Satan ''Hail Satan'', sometimes Latinisation (literature), Latinized as ''Ave Satanas'' or ''Ave Satana'', is an exclamation used by some Satanism, Satanists to invoke the name of Satan in contexts ranging from sincere expression to comedy or satire. ...

" in English. In an interview, Goldsmith says that his idea was to create a kind of Satanic version of a

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek language, Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed main ...

and came up with ideas while talking with the London choir-master of the orchestra who was helping him. He decided to create something like a

Black Mass A Black Mass is a ceremony celebrated by various Satanic groups. It has allegedly existed for centuries in different forms, and the modern form is intentionally a sacrilegious and blasphemous parody of a Catholic Mass. In the 19th century the ...

, inverting Latin phrases from the Latin Mass. The choir-master, according to Goldsmith, was an expert in Latin and helped him come up with phrases; instead of saying "Hail Mary", they decided on "Hail Satan", and so on. The song contains various Latin phrases inverting Christ and the Mass, such as "Ave Versus Christi", meaning "Hail Anti-Christ", and "Corpus Satani", an inversion of "Corpus Christi", the body of Christ. The resulting lyrics are an inversion of the Roman Catholic rite of the consecration and elevation of the body and blood of Christ during the Mass. A version of the song has been produced by the band

Fantômas Fantômas () is a fictional character created by French writers Marcel Allain (1885–1969) and Pierre Souvestre (1874–1914). One of the most popular characters in the history of French crime fiction, Fantômas was created in 1911 and appeared ...

, who altered some of the lyrics to mean "smallest blood, body spirit" rather than "we drink the blood, we eat the flesh," and added the word "rotted". Other versions of the original song have been performed by the Italian vocalist Servio Tulio, and by Gregorian. The song has been used in mixes of sinister music including the album ''Oculus Infernum'' by

Van Helsing's Curse Van Helsing's Curse is a side project, orchestra of Twisted Sister lead singer, Dee Snider. Along with Snider, the group featured a five-piece rock band, a six-piece choir, and six-piece string section. History Snider came up with the idea for t ...

, featuring

Dee Snider Daniel "Dee" SniderTayler, LettaTwisted Sister's Dee Snider remembers his challenging Long Island upbringing "Newsday", March 15, 2016Archived here/ref> (born March 15, 1955) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and songwriter o ...

Lyrics

The choir master's Latin contains a number of errors. Below are the Latin phrases which are repeated throughout the music, with their intended meaning, and a more correct Latin version:

References

{{Authority control 1976 songs 1976 compositions Compositions by Jerry Goldsmith Songs with music by Jerry Goldsmith Choral compositions Horror fiction Film theme songs The Omen (franchise) Songs in Latin

History

Lyrics

See also

References