In the Hall of the Mountain King
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In the Hall of the Mountain King (Norwegian: I Dovregubbens hall) is a piece of music by Edvard Grieg, composed for Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt, which premiered in Oslo on February 24, 1876.
A fantasy story written in verse, Peer Gynt tells of the adventures of the eponymous boy.
The sequence in which In the Hall of the Mountain King is used is when Peer sneaks into the Troll Mountain King's castle. The piece is played when Peer attempts to escape from the King.
Actions signified by the music
Peer Gynt's slow, careful footsteps are played by bassoons.The footsteps of the King's trolls are played quietly by other instruments.
When the trolls spot Peer, they give chase and the music begins to speed up.
Peer begins to run, and the music begins to get increasingly louder and faster.
The Mountain King runs into Peer, and Peer quickly runs the other way. The thundering giant that is the King runs too, and the music grows even louder and more manic.
Finally, at the end, the King catches Peer Gynt, picks him up and hurls him out the back door of the castle. The piece abruptly finishes on this note.
Other versions
| Artist | Album | Song | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apocalyptica | Cult | "Hall of the Mountain King" | |
| Big Brother and the Holding Company | |||
| Brainstormer [link] | unreleased | "Hall of Kings" | |
| Captain Jack | Dance Dance Revolution games | "Dream a Dream" | |
| Delinquent Habits | Merry Go Round | "The Kind" | uses theme |
| The Diffs | Self-Titled | "Can't Escape" | uses theme |
| Electric Light Orchestra | On the Third Day | "In the Hall of the Mountain King" | |
| Erasure | The Circus | "In the Hall of the Mountain King" | |
| Helloween | Walls of Jericho | "Gorgar" | uses theme |
| Machito | "El Salón del Rey del Mambo" | ||
| Chevy Martin | Classic Lounge | ||
| The Ratmen | "In the Hall of the Mountain King"; | ||
| Rainbow | Stranger in Us All | "Hall of the Mountain King" | |
| Anselmo Sacasas | "The Hall of the Mambo King" | ||
| Saga | Detours | ||
| Savatage | Hall of the Mountain King | "Prelude to Madness" | |
| Ska-P | Eurosis | "Simpático Holgazán" | uses theme |
| SRC | Milestones | medley with Bolero | |
| Trollske Ramon | "Does the Bergakungen Dance?" | ||
| Van Helsing's Curse | Oculus Infernum | "Tubular Hell" | uses theme |
| Vernian Process | Catalysts | "In the Hall of the Mountain King" | |
| Vintersorg | Till Fjälls | "För Kung Och Fosterland" | uses theme |
| Rick Wakeman | "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" | uses theme | |
| The Who | The Who Sell Out | "Hall of the Mountain King" | bonus on the 1995 reissue |
| Wolf Hoffmann | Classical | "In the Hall of the Mountain King" | |
| The Wombles | "Hall of the Mountain Womble" |
Movies, television, and video games
The initially-foreboding and then frenetic melody of In The Hall of the Mountain King is popular for cinematic and television scoring, and was used in:- The 1931 Fritz Lang motion picture M. Peter Lorre's character, the child murderer Franz Beckert, constantly whistles In the Hall of the Mountain King. (The director's whistling was used, not Lorre's.)
- The naked old man with a chicken leg attached to his head whistles In the Hall of the Mountain King in The Ren & Stimpy Show episode Big Baby Scam, but was censored in the United States because it is also a reference to the motion picture M.
- The 1993 supernatural thriller Needful Things, based on the book by Stephen King.
- The song was used in a trailer for the film The Grinch.
- The 2001 film Rat Race.
- The 2003 film Duplex Trailer.
- Michael Moore's 2002 documentary Bowling for Columbine, during the cartoon segment about gun-toting American history (when the Civil Rights Movement begins and "all hell breaks loose").
- The 2006 Robin Williams/Jeff Daniels comedy RV.
- The 1993 ''The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
- The theme for the 1983-1986 animated series Inspector Gadget is based on the piece.*
- On The 1993 Metallica DVD Live Sh#t: Binge And Purge at the San Diego 1992 concert, Kirk Hammet plays a section of this similar to the version included as a .wav file in Windows 95/98*
- The 1957 film The Pied Piper of Hamelin
- The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog background for Robotnik is based on In the Hall of the Mountain King.
- Shamus, an early video game in the style of Berzerk, used the song as its title music.
- The ground-breaking 1983 computer game Manic Miner played In the Hall of the Mountain King as its theme song.
- One of the Jet Set Willy games, "Join The Jet-Set", featured a simplified version of In the Hall of the Mountain King as the in-game music, as well as a first room named after it.
- The theme song of Orson's older brothers on Garfield and Friends is a simplified variation of the tune.
- In The Learning Company's Midnight Rescue!, "In the Hall of the Mountain King" plays while the player is in a room.
- In The Hall of the Mountain King is one of the classical songs (along with another movement of the Peer Gynt suite) that plays in the strategy-oriented computer game Hearts of Iron.
- The 2006 animated short "[Cupid's Last Stand]".
- In a trailer for the 2005 movie Corpse Bride the song was used when Victor was running away from the Corpse Bride.
- In a trailer for the 2006 movie Monster House.
Other pop culture references
- The classic Colossal Cave Adventure contains a central room called "the Hall of the Mountain King."
- The famous British theme park Alton Towers uses In the Hall of the Mountain King as its theme song, and it can be frequently heard as visitors make their way around the park.
- Microsoft included In the Hall of the Mountain King as one of several preinstalled MIDI files in Windows 95, 98, and 2000.
- "In the Hall of the Mountain King" was the first piece played at the 2005 Bastille Day fireworks at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, an impressive spectacle which included "The Girl from Ipanema" and Daft Punk's song "Robot Rock."
- On Apple Macintosh computers, the "Cellos" system voice speaks in a tone sequence similar to "In the Hall of the Mountain King."
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