CLASSICAL MUSIC FROM THE MOVIES

“Ride of the Valkyries” from Die Walküre (1854-1856)
RICHARD WAGNER (1813-1883)
The Valkyries are the nine warrior-maidens of German mythology who ride through the air on their steeds, bringing heroes killed in battle to Valhalla, home of the gods. The Ride occurs in Wagner’s opera when the curtain rises on a rocky mountain to reveal four of the Valkyries watching their sisters return from the battleground.

“Fanfare” and “Love Scene” from The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
ERICH WOLFGANG KORNGOLD (1897-1957)
The Adventures of Robin Hood, Warner Bros.’s first full Technicolor feature, is based on the legend of the nobleman who turns virtuous outlaw to rob from the rich, give to the poor, and defend England from internal usurpers and external enemies. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won for Korngold’s score.

Suite from Vertigo (1958)
BERNARD HERRMANN (1911-1975)
Hitchcock’s masterful thriller Vertigo concerns Scottie Ferguson, a San Francisco police detective who has been forced into early retirement because a rooftop chase that resulted in the death of another officer has caused him to suffer from extreme fear of heights. The climax finds Scottie at the top of the bell tower of a mission church trying to prevent what he thinks will be the attempted suicide of Madeleine, whom he has come to love. The Prelude provides the musical gateway for this gripping tale. In The Nightmare sequence, Scottie has a terrifying dream in which he has a premonition of himself falling from the tower. The Scène d’amour accompanies Madeleine and Scottie’s first embrace.

An American in Paris (1928)
GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898-1937)
In 1951, An American in Paris and several of Gershwin’s finest songs inspired an Oscar-winning film from director Vincente Minnelli. In the story, a struggling American painter in Paris falls in love with a lovely French girl. An American in Paris provides the music for the colorful ballet that serves as the film’s dazzling climax.

Overture to Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
MAURICE JARRE (1924-2009)
Lawrence of Arabia, which brought French composer Maurice Jarre an Oscar, is based on the exploits of the British author, archaeologist, diplomat and military officer Thomas Edward Lawrence (1888-1935), who helped lead the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Jarre’s score evokes the film’s sweeping panoramas and action sequences, as well as its cultural settings.

“Nimrod” from Variations on an Original Theme, “Enigma,” Op. 36 (1898-1899)
SIR EDWARD ELGAR (1857-1934)
Nimrod has become associated with musical commemorations, but it was conceived as a musical tribute to August Jaeger, Elgar’s publisher and close friend, who lived and worked for another decade after “Enigma” was written. The title, borrowed from the Old Testament hunter Nimrod, is a play on Jaeger’s name and the German homonym “Jäger” (“hunter”). Hans Zimmer used Nimrod as the theme for his score for the 2017 film Dunkirk, which portrayed the heroic rescue by civilian boaters of British soldiers from the shores of France after the failed invasion of June 1940.

Sunset Boulevard: Suite (1950)
FRANZ WAXMAN (1906-1967)
Sunset Boulevard was director Billy Wilder’s unblinking cinematic look at a faded silent-era star named Norma Desmond (played by Gloria Swanson) living in a crumbling Hollywood mansion whose hopes for a comeback are encouraged by the struggling screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) and her devoted butler (and one-time husband and director) Max von Mayerling (Erich von Stroheim). When Joe falls in love with a young writer (Nancy Olson) at the studio, Norma loses her reason and Joe loses his life. Sunset Boulevard was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and all four leading actors, and won for Best Screenplay, Art Direction and Waxman’s score.

“Superman March” from Superman (1978)
“Rey’s Theme” from Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
“Raiders’ March” from Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

JOHN WILLIAMS (B. 1932)
Superman, starring Christopher Reeve, was director Richard Donner’s screen realization of America’s quintessential superhero, created in Cleveland in 1938 by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster. The film was nominated for four Oscars (including Williams’ score) and won for Best Visual Effects. The “Superman March,” also known as the Theme from Superman, evokes the daring and bravery of the title character and includes the lyrical “flying theme” (recorded by Maureen McGovern in 1978 as the single Can You Read My Mind?) as its central episode.

Episode VII: The Force Awakens, the first installment of the sequel trilogy to the original Star Wars series, is set when the First Order has succeeded the defeated Empire as the enemy of the Republic. Among the characters who enter the epic tale in that film is the resourceful female scavenger Rey, who was abandoned as a child and joins the Resistance against the First Order. Williams’ music, his fifth Oscar nomination for the Star Wars series (he won for the first, in 1978), weaves themes associated with characters seen in earlier installments through a brilliant new score.

Indiana Jones made his screen debut in 1981 in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first adventure for the tweedy college archeologist-turned-bullwhip-toting action hero, Stephen Spielberg’s tribute to the Saturday matinee cliffhanger serials. John Williams’ score matched the speed, wit, thrills and varied locales of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and his work was recognized with a nomination for an Academy Award, one of nine the film received, including Best Picture and Best Director.