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[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/7zb0lolwhduww3yjflm_9.gif]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[VideoGame/Spyro2RiptosRage "Who needs a key when you know how to chant like this?"]]]]
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A group of children singing in a pure, virtuous way, giving an encouraging and positive feel to the scene. The choir is usually dominated by the clear, ringing voices of boy sopranos. A Cherubic Choir normally means that the good guys are in the middle of triumphing, though sometimes it just indicates we're done with the tense part. It can also imply a sort of divine endorsement of what's happening. Often a ThemeMusicPowerUp.

Sometimes it's OminousLatinChanting without the Ominous part; just put it in a major key instead of a minor. Cherubic Choirs tend to be in something other than the native language, possible as a kind of musical ''lorem ipsum'' (i.e. deliberately unintelligible to keep your focus on the sound, not on the words) and of course in keeping with the RuleOfCool.

Compare EtherealChoir and SavedByTheChurchBell. Contrast CreepyChildrenSinging, where creepy songs and nursery rhymes are played in the background to add tension and fear to a scene. See also InnocentSoprano and TenorBoy, who are heroic characters with high singing voices (that may even be childlike in the case of the former). For individual members of the choir, see {{Putto}}. See also ChildrenVoicingChildren.

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!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In ''Anime/DotHackSign'' when Aura awakens a choir so magically [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic crowns the scene]].
* ''Anime/ElCazadorDeLaBruja'' has this for the tune of "Maxewell's Witch" and "Cowardly Little Dogs Are We".
* ''Anime/CowboyBebop''
** "Blue", the final track heard, is accompanied by a heavenly young chorus
** The mid-series finale theme song, "Space Lion", also features a children's choir.
** There's also "Green Bird" in episode 5 of the series.
* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}''
** ''Anime/DigimonAdventure: Our War Game'': The [[EleventhHourSuperpower climatic]] FusionDance between [[TheHero WarGreymon]] and [[TheLancer MetalGarurumon]] to defeat the BigBad is accompanied by the Tokyo Girls and Boys Choir singing a sombre 'Requiem', a reflection of the merger being born of children everywhere wishing for their victory.
** ''Anime/DigimonFusion'': Whenever Beelzebumon is involved in a [[CombiningMecha DigiXros]], the end of the TransformationSequence plays a brief high note of a Cherubic Choir, playing on his status as TheSacredDarkness.
* ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'' has a beautiful Russian song named "Brothers", used both straight and for SoundtrackDissonance. [[TearJerker Very effectively.]]
* In ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion 2.0'' "Today Is The Time For Goodbye" played when [[spoiler:Unit 01 is taken over by the Dummy-Plug System and tears Unit 03 apart (with Asuka still inside)]] and "Give Me Wings" when [[spoiler:Shinji in "Deity-form" Unit-01 is rescuing Rei from within the Tenth Angel, and accidentally triggering [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Third Impact]] in the process.]]
* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1BTzS-6I3Q Koya no kiseki]]'' from ''Anime/AikatsuStars'' features this mixed with [[OminousLatinChanting Ominous Japanese Chanting]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Art]]
* ''Art/TheBirthOfVenusBouguereau'': {{Implied}}. Fifteen {{putt|o}}i, including Myth/CupidAndPsyche, have been counted in the foreground and the background of the painting. All of their poses suggest they are singing because a goddess has been born.
* ''Art/TheBirthOfVenusCabanel'':
Venus is accompanied by a choir of winged {{putt|o}}i (more famously called cherubs) playing music with conch-shells.
* In addition to the Art/SistineChapel's famous {{paintings}}, the church is blessed with a six-hundred-year-old Latin choir that performs during compositions from the likes of the polyphonic master Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and other artists of the Counter-reformation during the Pontifical masses; [[https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/palestrina-missa-papae-marcelli/id1141527382 stream their hottest album on iTunes!]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'': The scene where Esmeralda frees Quasimodo from the torture wheel.
* Music/JamesHorner employs this in ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime''. This was used in almost all of Creator/DonBluth's films.
* The song "Once Upon a Time with Me" by Florence Warner Jones on the ''WesternAnimation/OnceUponAForest'' soundtrack.
* Played wonderfully in ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'', when the Exodus is occurring and the Israelites are leaving Egypt. In the musical background, groups of children are singing a [[SongOfPrayer song of praise]] to God in Hebrew. The music and animation in this scene work well in sync. At the beginning of the children's choir, the Israelites are unsure, as though they cannot believe that they are indeed being delivered from their bondage. Slowly, as the tempo picks up and more voices join in, we start seeing children playing in the road. A girl offers an elderly woman a hand. Moses ends up carrying two kids who are hanging from his staff as he balances it on his shoulders. People start laughing. Some people break out drum-heads and other musical instruments. Young women start dancing. By the end of the chorus we've gone from uncertainty to jubilation.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Used heavily in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' movies: for instance, when Gandalf escapes Orthanc.
* ''Film/TheChorus'' is a movie about a Cherubic Choir formed by Clément Mathieu in order to SaveOurStudents; the choir also doubles as a way to highlight his resistantly cheerful attitude.
* At the end of ''Franchise/StarWars [[Film/ThePhantomMenace Episode I]]'', children sing a major-key version of the ominous Emperor's theme. This foreshadows that Chancellor Palpatine's veneer of compassion hides the sinister character that will become the evil Emperor from ''Return of the Jedi''.
* The "ice dance" theme from ''Film/EdwardScissorhands''.
* In ''Film/BatmanReturns'' children are singing right as baby Penguin's parents are about to dump him in the sewer.
* Used in ''Film/BloodDiamond'' in the song "London", which features a children's choir doing a call-and-response section with the main singer. The group singing is the Kenya Boys Choir.
* ''Film/{{Hannibal}}'': The choir [[http://boysoloist.com/album.asp?AlbumID=347&ArtistID=167&gid=187 Libera]] contributes to at least five out of twelve of the movie's soundtrack tracks.
* The [[http://boysoloist.com/artist.asp?vid=623 London Oratory School Schola]] has contributed to at least seven movies.
* ''Film/EmpireOfTheSun'' opens with one singing, the main character played by Creator/ChristianBale being a member of a church choir. The vocals were dubbed by an actual boy soprano.
* Sparse but dramatic examples as the astronauts of ''Film/{{Apollo 13}}'' re-enter the Earth's atmosphere while the whole world watches on. More prominent after they safely splash down.
* In the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB95KLmpLR4 trailer]] for ''Film/TheSocialNetwork'', a Belgian young girl's choir by the name of "Scala and the Kolacny Brothers" performed a piano and choir only cover of "Creep" by Radiohead. Atmospheric, melancholic, and somewhat creepy are terms to describe it that come to mind.
* ''Film/{{Sing|2016}}'' is a 2016 short film that's all about a Cherubic Choir. One of the students who applies to participate in the choir is told that she isn't good enough and will have to pretend to sing while actually just mouthing the words.
* The GoodShepherd from ''Film/AngelsWithDirtyFaces'' is introduced as an adult leading a choir of boys the same age he was when he was a delinquent. It shows he's changed a lot and is doing his best to make sure these kids don't make the mistakes that nearly ruined his life.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheWire'''s theme song (Music/TomWaits' "Down in the Hole") was sung by a different artist each season. Season 4 used a Boy's Choir, since the season's theme is the decrepit west Baltimore school system and the young men it fails to help.
* The theme music for ''Series/MrBean'' - "Ecce homo qui est faba" or "[[BilingualBonus Behold the man who is a bean.]]"
* Parodied on ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide''. Ned believes that when he sees the girl who is The One, she'll have light glowing behind her, and angels will sing. Ned ''does'' see that [[spoiler: with Moze]], but it's really the kids from the music room who are waiting for Gordy to fix the lights in there. At the end, light and angelic singing appear with [[spoiler: Moze]] again, but this time it's ''not'' just the kids in the music room, or lights being moved by Gordy.
* In ''Series/CosmosASpacetimeOdyssey'', the soundtrack has this in the background when introducing Giordano Bruno and during the DreamSequence where he imagines an infinite universe (which was one of the beliefs that would get him killed by the Inquisition). It's reused variously, often when introducing an important character at birth or childhood (like Michael Faraday) or when a religious institution comes into the picture (like the Benedictine abbey where Josef von Fraunhofer conducted his research).
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "The Snowmen," a cherubic choir performs the dreamlike "Clara's Theme" as the titular character is shown climbing into the clouds above London in a fairy-tale-like sequence.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Music/GustavMahler's Third and Eighth Symphonies.
* Subverted by Music/{{Rammstein}} in "Spieluhr".
* Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}} song "You Can't Always Get What You Want" from ''Music/LetItBleed'' with The (London) Bach Choir.
* The Music/PinkFloyd song "Another Brick in the Wall" from ''Music/TheWall'' with the Islington Green School choir.
** Also, "Outside The Wall" from the same album, with Roger Waters speaking the lyrics over the choir.
* The entire boychoir genre, with some of the best known examples including the Vienna Boys Choir, the Choir of Kings College Cambridge, and Libera.
* Subverted with Music/YoLaTengo's cover of Sun Ra's "Nuclear War", which features a positively ecstatic choir of adorable little children yelling the {{c|lusterFBomb}}horus:
-->It's a motherfucker, don't you know!\\
When they push that button, yo' ass gotta go!
* {{Music/Savatage}}'s ''Music/StreetsARockOpera'' opens with a choir of children singing from [[Music/WolfgangAmadeusMozart Mozart]]'s ''Theatre/TheMagicFlute''.
* Music/{{Anberlin}}'s song, "*Fin" has a boys choir helping out with the finale.
* There are several Dutch songs that use a children choir with interesting lyrics.
** Robert Long: "Het spijt me Music/JohnLennon" (I'm sorry, John Lennon). The children do the background with wonderful lyrics such as 'murder and manslaughter' 'still children are dying'. It's actual a sort of protest song about us still doing bad stuff to other humans and ignoring the suffering of other people.
** Piet van Vliet: "Zwarte p, witte l (Black p, white l)". It's a reference to chocolate letters. It can also be understood as black pete, white dick which is completely intentional. The children come in somewhere after the middle to take over the chorus. 'He's a black pete, but has a white l, and if you don't like it, your mother sure does' (It's difficult to translate)
** "Bolletjes in mijn hol (Little balls up my bum)". It's about rectal drug smuggling and they're not subtle. The children take the chorus over after the middle. It translates roughly as: 'Yes I have little balls up my bum, I'm completely stuffed, whistling past the the checkpoint with my fully loaded anus'
* Music/{{Garbage}}'s "Not Your Kind of People", featuring the daughters of two bandmembers.
* Music/{{Ride}}'s song "I Don't Know Where It Comes From" from Carnival of Light.
* "All Things Dull And Ugly" on Creator/MontyPython's album ''AudioPlay/MontyPythonsContractualObligationAlbum'' is sang by a children's choir, but instead of positive things it's all about CrapsackWorld stuff, making the children a CreepyChildrenSinging.
* Music/DanielAmos's "Memory Lane" (from ''{{Music/Doppelganger}}'') has female singers during the outro.
* Three Dog Night’s “Black And White” features a chorus of the band members’ children at the end.
* "Sing" by the Music/TheCarpenters has a chorus of children singing throughout the second half of the song.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pinballs]]
* Done in ''Pinball/BlackKnight2000'' with its SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic soundtrack.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Radio/TheMuseumOfEverything'': a choir is heard whenever anyone mentions the gift shop.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sports]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcwjDwj8GyM The UEFA Champions League theme,]] [[http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/george_frideric_handel/uefa_champions_league_theme-lyrics-1218229.html with English, French and German lyrics.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* The theme of ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'''s Royal Chapel, "Requiem of the Gods," consists of this trope and [[OminousPipeOrgan organ music]], appropriately enough, topped off with [[ForDoomTheBellTolls some church bells]].
* ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonorFrontline'': The music in the "Rough Landing" and "Arnhem Knights" levels. In both cases, it induces SoundtrackDissonance, and in the latter, the good guys are losing.
** Though it has a fairly serene feel (contrasting the violence of the Battle of Arnhem), "Arnhem Knights" is mournful and tear-jerking. It plays over a level set in a devastated city, where isolated pockets of British paratroopers are cut off and surrounded by Waffen-SS stormtroopers. The British character models have torn and filthy uniforms with bloody bandages around their heads and limbs, with many of them missing helmets and other gear. If you know the real history behind the level, you know this is TruthInTelevision. It's been known to make grown men cry.
* At the end of ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'', when [[spoiler:Amaterasu regains her power]].
* The music that plays during the final battle against the Chandelier superweapon in ''VideoGame/AceCombat6FiresOfLiberation'' is performed by a boys' choir with [[OminousLatinChanting Ominous English Chanting]]. Perhaps a rare twist on this trope, as the music (and gameplay) is clearly meant to paint the whole scenario as a ''tragedy''. In other words, it's like a solemn lament to the necessity of one last, desperate battle to take out a superweapon raining death on a country that has already won the war, forcing the soldiers to fight one last battle to secure the peace they've been longing for all this time.
* Creator/NipponIchi is really fond of this trope for their good endings. To whit:
** "Akai Tsuki" (lit. Red Moon) in ''VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness'' game. It fits extremely well with the episode in lyrics and tone. Read: TearJerker.
*** "Flower of Happiness", used in the good ending.
** "Heaven's Guarden", the ending music for ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave''.
** "Cradle of the Ivory Moon", the music for the main ending of ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters''.
* The TrueFinalBoss battle music in ''VideoGame/MushihimeSama''. Talk about SoundtrackDissonance. The regular edition of ''Futari'' averts this, but ''Black Label'' plays it straight again.
* At the best ending of ''VideoGame/MystIIIExile'', a boy soprano sings as the (redeemed) antagonist goes home to see his family after 20 years of separation. It is suggested that the singer is the villain as a young boy singing about his beloved Age, Narayan.
* The intro music of ''VideoGame/GranTurismo 4'' is a choral version of the series theme, "Moon over the Castle".
* The OpeningTheme of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' is a choral remake of the original NES opening theme.
* Also subverted by the "Theme of Law" in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'', where the angels' heavenly choir (which later becomes [[spoiler:Zelenin's Song]]) is disturbing and eerie.
* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSOFsF_emOk The Prophet's Ascension]]" from ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianTwilight''. [[spoiler: The music plays as Kane enters a portal that brings him and his followers to the stars, "ascending" like he promised.]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqL1OIvveN8&feature=related "You Were There"]], the closing song of ''VideoGame/{{Ico}}'', feature a song sung by Libera boy chorister Steven Geraghty.
* ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'': The game's SoundStone, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrtM4onLQ1I Eight Melodies]], is one of these in its OST interpretation. This song was used in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQUN7QAnMp0 1989 commercial]] for the game.
* The ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arND-Pe5-00 Dark Mirror]]'' version of ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter'''s main theme.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' of all games employs this with Bowser's Castle and the end credits.
** ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros2'': The ground theme is literally the same as the previous version, only with the addition of this. The Athletic theme heard is also full of this.
* ''VideoGame/BatenKaitosOrigins''' main theme, 'Le Ali Del Principio', has a nine-year-old girl (the daughter of the composer, Creator/MotoiSakuraba) singing lyrics in Italian. It's mostly used as a ThemeMusicPowerUp or for big reveals.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' has a few of these, a joyful one sung during the {{Mook Debut Cutscene}}s, and two melancholic yet incredibly relaxing ones during the Paradiso levels.
* The soothing theme of the benevolent Guardian Spirit, a powerful and almost godlike entity which helps the Miis throughout their journey in ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'', is one of these.
* Used extensively in ''VideoGame/NiGHTSJourneyOfDreams'' to drive home the [[ChildrenAreInnocent innocent-children]] theme of the game. It's most prominent in "When the Night Falls," the hub world. The same vocal sounds are later used in ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'''s Desert Ruins Zone 3, which has a [[LevelAte candy motif]].
* In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'', the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYzhsm0qv8c day]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3s4fO_2dbE night]] themes of [[TheTheocracy the Indoline Praetorium]] are, fittingly, performed as choral pieces,[[note]]by the Irish vocal ensemble [[http://www.anuna.ie/ Anúna]][[/note]] with boy sopranos featuring more prominently in the former.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'': The [[https://youtu.be/dbMAmDaRW6I C.H.E.R.U.B jingle]] is a fairly unorthodox example. It's not exactly the traditional style of music you hear from this trope, but the song is still a sweet if highly energetic tune about blessing people and spreading positivity sung by ''literal'' cherubs.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* When [[spoiler:Roy Greenhilt]] dies in ''WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', [[spoiler:he]] gets to enter heaven through a gate surrounded by one of these. {{Lampshaded}} by the heavenly guide, who says it's customary to tip the cherubim.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'' has a RecurringExtra called The Awe Guy, whose sole purpose is to provide one of these at the appropriate moments.
* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyBravo'', when Johnny sees an ad for something he just happens to need at the moment. Cut to ad. choir starts singing, cut back to Johnny, with the choir standing behind him.
[[/folder]]

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