After the prologue of Baz Luhrmann's controversial, modern retelling of William Shakespeare's tragedy "Romeo and Juliet," the audience is blasted away by a hoard of harmonious voices chanting a loud, haunting song to the beat of an angry drum. This song, in which a narrator begins "Two households, both alike in dignity...", is called "O Verona," the song which Baz Luhrmann himself calls "an almighty orchestral chord." Its sister song, "O Verona (Reprise)" is uninterrupted by the narrator, and the listener is able to appreciate its musical quality in a fuller fashion. Personally, I couldn't decide whether to recommend "O Verona" or "O Verona (Reprise)" to you. They are both extraordinary recordings on what is, I believe, one of the greatest musical scores to a motion picture ever produced.

This song, also from Baz Luhrmann's "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet", follows heart-broken Romeo on his hurried journey to find his "dead" wife, Juliet. On his way back into Verona, he is followed by police helicopters with machine guns among other things, and breaks down at the steps of St. Peter's Church, holding a priest at gunpoint while screaming at the police "Tempt not a desperate man!" With exhilirating beats and choral pieces from "O Verona" stuck here and there, "Escape from Mantua" is one of my favorite movie score pieces. Truly a wonderful creation.

This song, as heard at the death scene of "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet", is a piece from Richard Wagner's famous "Tristan und Isolde."
I don't know exactly how to describe it, but I can tell you this:
A few years ago, after studying Shakespeare's tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" and watching Baz Luhrmann's version of the film, young student Kip Kinkel became obsessed with what is often called "the greatest love story ever told." Kip believed that "Romeo and Juliet" was exceptionally relevant to his own life. He had recently been a victim of unrequieted love and he felt his parents' constnat pull over him. One day, Kip had a psychotic break. He carried a gun to school and shot several of his classmates, killing them or leaving them seriously injured. He ran. As his parents arrived back at home, Kip blasted "Liebestod" on his stereo, took up his gun, and shot and killed both of them. The music was still playing loud and clear when the police arrived at his home to arrest him.
Scarily enough, that is how moving this music really is.