Are the choirs on movie scores actually singing words?

From what I can tell, yes they do use real words. I remember reading somewhere that for “Duel of the Fates” (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace):

The lyrics were taken from one line of the Celtic poem “Battle of the Trees” loosely translated into Sanscrit.

Khara Matha Khara Rath Amah
Khara Rath Amah Yuddha Khara
Khara Syada Rath Amah Dai Ya
Khara Ki La Dan Ya
Niha Ki La Khara Rath Amah
Syada Ki La Khara Rath Amah
Khara Dan Ya Khara Rath Amah
Khara Dan Ya Khara Rath Amah
Niha Ki La Khara Rath Amah
Syada Ki La Khara Rath Amah
Khara
Khara Matha Khara Rath Amah
Khara Dan Ya Khara Rath Amah
Niha Ki La Khara Rath Amah
Syada Ki La Khara Rath Amah
Khara

What the words mean:

Khara = dreadful
Matha = head
Rath = speak
Amah = give
Yuddha = battle
Syada = raging
Dai = purify
Ya = going
Ki = like
La = taking
Dan = separate
Niha = loss

The line from the original poem reads, “Under the tongue root a fight most dread, and another raging, behind, in the head.”

In Disney’s Hunchback they are. They are contradicting what the villain is singing.

Khara means sh*t in Arabic…

I’m pretty sure that in LotR they are singing in various Middle-Earth speeches, but I don’t want to swear to that. Lemme go ask my more knowledgeable friends and get back to you…

O Fortuna is pretty much the quintessential choir-singing-dramatically-in-a-movie song, and it certainly has words. You can find them here.

My source (i.e. a fan site I visit!) says that indeed, the LotR movies use relevant/appropriate ME languages for various scenes. Dwarvish when we’re in dwarf-y places, both elven languages (Quenya and Sindarin) for the elf scenes… That idea.

@lefteh, although in this instance they’re certainly not the words of the composer! What movies has O Fortuna been used in? I just know it from the Orff composition, without context.

“O Fortuna” was used in The Exorcist, for one.

@MindErrantry, absolutely not the words of the composer ;)
O Fortuna has been used in a host of movies… The Exorcist, as Jeruba mentioned, as well as Excalibur, The General’s Daughter, Natural Born Killers, The Hunt for Red October, and many more. It’s also used in a parody form quite often, in films such as Jackass and Paul Blart.

Oh wow, I had no idea it showed up all those times… cool :)

To the primary question, the answer is, some are and some aren’t. There isn’t a rule about it.

Yes, they do use words.