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Music of the Movies

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Orchestral Series
Saturday, July 12, 2025 at 6pm Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater
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Stéphane Denève guides the audience through the role of great classical music in early film and how these monumental works paved the way for iconic film scores we all know and love today.

Featured Artist

Stéphane Denève

conductor

Program Highlights

STRAUSS
Dawn from Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30

VIVALDI
Allegro from La primavera (Spring) from Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons)

BEETHOVEN
Allegro (Thunderstorm) from Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, Pastoral

WAGNER, arr. Hutschenruyter

The Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre

TCHAIKOVSKY
Scene from Swan Lake Suite, Op. 20a

DUKAS
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

NEWMAN
20th Century Fox Fanfare

STEINER
Theme from King Kong

KORNGOLD
Overture to The Sea Hawk

HERRMANN
Prelude and “The Murder” from Psycho, Suite for Strings “Love Scene” from Vertigo

JOHN WILLIAMS
“The Raiders’ March” from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark “Helena’s Theme” from Indiana Jones and the
Dial of Destiny “Main Title” from Star Wars

All artists, programs, and pricing subject to change.

Program Notes

MUSIC OF THE MOVIES

This evening’s concert is a double feature celebrating the profound connection between music and film. Classical masterpieces that have become synonymous with cinematic storytelling include Richard Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra, immortalized in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony evoke nature’s beauty and dramatic shifts. Apocalypse Now burned Wagner’s exhilarating, terrifying Ride of the Valkyries into our collective consciousness, while Swan Lake and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice transport us to the magical worlds of Black Swan and Fantasia.

The second half of the program traces almost a full century of music written explicitly for the movies. In 1933, Max Steiner’s King Kong marked the first time an original score accompanied and enhanced the narrative. The rousing score to The Sea Hawk is widely recognized as a high point in the career of Erich Korngold, the first classical composer of international stature to move from Europe to Hollywood in the 1930s. Bernard Herrmann’s celebrated association with Alfred Hitchcock revolutionized movie scoring, paving the way for the master of them all, John Williams, creator of much of the most recognizable, beloved, and critically acclaimed movie music in cinematic history.

The running time of this concert is approximately 2 hours.

STRAUSS Dawn from Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30

VIVALDI Allegro from La primavera (Spring) from Le quattro stagioni (The Four Seasons)

BEETHOVEN Allegro (Thunderstorm) from Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, Pastoral

WAGNER, arr. Hutschenruyter The Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre

TCHAIKOVSKY Scene from Swan Lake Suite, Op. 20a

DUKAS The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

INTERMISSION

NEWMAN 20th Century Fox Fanfare

STEINER Theme from King Kong

KORNGOLD Overture to The Sea Hawk

HERRMANN Prelude and “The Murder” from Psycho, Suite for Strings “Love Scene” from Vertigo

JOHN WILLIAMS “The Raiders’ March” from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark “Helena’s Theme” from Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny “Main Title” from Star Wars