text: lacrymosa ( song ) " lacrymosa " is a song recorded by american rock band evanescence for their second studio album , the open door ( 2006 ) . the song was composed by amy lee and terry balsamo and produced by dave fortman . " lacrymosa " incorporates the lacrimosa sequence from mozart 's requiem ( 1791 ) throughout the song and lee said that its main inspiration is the film amadeus . the song is influenced by genres such as alternative metal , gothic rock , and post - grunge . set in slow tempo , it was originally written in the key of d minor but lee and balsamo transposed it into e minor . the song garnered polarizing opinions from music critics , with some labeling it as one of the best songs on the open door , particularly complimenting the backing choir , while others lamented it one of the worst for the same reasons . according to lee , " lacrymosa " was originally written for the soundtrack of the movie the chronicles of narnia : the lion , the witch and the wardrobe , but was not included because of its dark sound . the producers of narnia , however , rebutted her claim , stating this information was " news to them " and that no evanescence music had been planned for inclusion in the soundtrack . the song was part of the setlist during their the open door tour . background and recording " lacrymosa " was written by amy lee and terry balsamo and produced by dave fortman . david campbell , who has previously arranged music for the band and worked with them at the billboard music awards , led a 22 - piece orchestra for the song . the millennium choir performed the lacrimosa sequence ( " lacrimosa dies illa qua ex homo reus . ergo parce , deus : pie jesu domine , dona eis requiem . amen . " ) and backing vocals throughout the song . lee , the orchestra and choir recorded the song at a chapel in seattle , washington . in a number of interviews , lee revealed that everyone asked about a collaboration between her and mozart . she further stated that she always wanted to make lacrimosa from mozart 's requiem a metal song , later adding that the open door was " the time for that , for trying things i hadn 't been brave enough to try before . " in an interview with vh1 news , lee further explained the inspiration behind the song " i saw amadeus when i was nine years old and fell in love with mozart . the part of mozart 's requiem called " " [ sic ] is my favorite piece of music ever . i always wished we could cover it , but with programming and guitars and make it cool . it 's our moment to try all the things i wanted to and couldn 't , so i started messing with it in protools . terry wrote some riffs and turned it into this awesome metal epic . " composition , music and lyrics according to the sheet music published by alfred publishing on musicnotes.com , " lacrymosa " is an alternative metal , gothic rock and post - grunge song set in a common time and performed in slow tempo of 48 beats per minute . although the original lacrimosa sequence was performed in d - minor , it was transposed into e - minor by lee and terry balsamo . the instruments in the song are piano , guitar , violins and drums . lee 's vocal range from the note of b3 and e5 ; the satb choir ranges from the note of b2 to e4 . " lacrymosa " has a " violin intro , synth worth of a nine inch nails album , and omen - esque choral sections that are very haunting . " according to rob sheffield from rolling stone , in " lacrymosa " lee is " sobbing hysterically over a grand piano . " according to the ign reviewer , ed thompson , the song " takes the trademark evanescence sound - lee 's celestial voice , and adds her brooding lyrics ' i can 't change who i am , not this time , i won 't lie to keep you near me and in this short life , there 's no time to waste on giving up . my love wasn 't enough ' . " . danielle from the oshkosh west index stated that " lee 's astounding classical vocals are displayed with songs as the eerie ' like you , ' and ' lacrymosa ' . " she said that these two songs feature slower beats , and are more " piano - themed melodies , followed shortly by the power guitar section of the song . " but she said that the song was very similar to " haunted " from fallen adding , " creepy background choir vocals and violins send listeners into a gothic cathedral - like setting . " jim farber from said that " lacrymosa " will remind older listeners the ' 70s art - rock horror renaissance . andree farias from christianity today said " [ but ] the song has nothing to do with lucy and her escapades into the land of aslan . rather , it 's just another bitter break - up anthem : ' and you can blame it on me / just set your guilt free , honey / i don 't want to hold you back now love . ' " critical reception " lacrymosa " received positive to mixed reviews from music critics . bill lamb from about.com put the song in the list of top tracks on the open door alongside " sweet sacrifice " , " call me when you 're sober " , " your star " and " good enough " . he added " elements such as the connection of the song ' lacrymosa ' to the mozart ' requiem ' movement of the same name , or intense exploration of the benefits and costs of ' lithium ' give hints that evanescence could add intellectual heft to their obvious command of emotion . " ed thompson from ign called " lacrymosa " the " most memorable track " in the whole album . don kaye of the website blabbermouth.net said that while the song was an " interesting experiment " it came " across as more of a stab at with its strings and choirs than a real song . " an editor from the new york times said that " lacrymosa " is grandiose even by the album ’ s standards . sputnikmusic said that the song is the best on the album and gave the song a grade of 4 . 5 along with " good enough " , adding that on the last two songs the album stops to be boring because of the variations . simon cosyns from the sun concluded that " song titles such as ' weight of the world ' , ' lose control ' and ' lacrymosa ' tell you it ’ s not a bed of roses , but there is a positive streak running through the open door " . on postmedia news it was stated that lee " achieves stunning notes on ' lacrymosa ' , which employs a haunting choir " . jordan reimer from the daily princetonian praised lee 's melodies and said that " cloud nine " and " lacrymosa " were her best two arrangements . john hood from miami new times made a story , " ' call me when you 're sober ' sent a man away , ' lacrymosa ' kept him there , and ' cloud nine ' told the clueless why he would no longer ever be welcomed back . joost melis from the dutch website ! compared " lacrymosa " with song of the bands within temptation and nightwish . a writer of the independent put the song on his list of " download this " from the open door . brendan butler from cinema blend was critical saying that " the worst song on the open door , i [ t ’ ] s a toss up between ' lacrymosa ' with its abominable choir and the obnoxious ' lose control , ' which features amy crying for about five minutes . " a reviewer from noted that the weakest tracks on the album are " snow white queen " , " lacrymosa " , " like you " , and " lose control " because " the vocal on those tracks just do not flow with the lyrics and music combined therefore making them annoying because [ lee 's ] voice gets a bit unsettling and can only be tolerable to a certain extent . " glenn gamboa from the providence journal concluded that " maybe the over - the - top dramatics of ' lacrymosa ' and piano ballad ' your star ' will be seen as so - bad - they ’ re - good . " live performances the song was played live by the band during their tour for the promotion of the open door . on the concert which took place on november 17 , 2007 in orem the band played " lacrymosa " . during the performance lee was wearing a purple tank , black skirt and black boots . they also performed the song at hammerstein ballroom in new york in 2006 . evanescence played the song live at their secret new york gig which took place on november 4 , 2009 . the band played the song during a concert at porto alegre , brazil on october 4 , 2012 . controversy and usage in media in a 2004 interview with mtv news , amy lee revealed that she was composing music for the film , the chronicles of narnia : the lion , the witch and the wardrobe . she also revealed that the producers of the movie offered her a small role , " they were like , ' do you want to do a cameo ? ' and i was like , ' hell yeah ! let me die . i want to be somebody who gets murdered . ' so i don 't think that 's going to happen . " she later revealed that " lacrymosa " was originally written for the film , but was mysteriously not included . however , according to producers , neither lee or the band were approached to compose music for the film . another song was also written for the movie , but it was rejected because of its dark sound . lee went on to state that it was just " more great stuff [ for the open door ] " . lacrymosa is a corruption of the latin term lacrimosa , which means " tearful " . the track title is also the scientific name for a species of moth known as catocala , also known as the ' underwing ' . the species of moth are featured throughout the open door 's cover booklet and on the cover of the " sweet sacrifice " radio promo cd . a clip of " lacrymosa " was used in the video teaser for the open door . credits and personnel credits adapted from the open door liner notes .