Music in Film

1. Ben-Hur and the Classical Film Score

Miklós Rózsa’s score to William Wyler’s 1959 epic, Ben-Hur, is considered to be one of the “last great film scores” of Hollywood’s golden age. Rózsa (who scored numerous well-renowned films from the era) employed many of the conventions associated with the classical score that was subsequently left behind by later composers. Among these conventions are the classical modes of production, as well as classical thematic qualities. Rózsa adhered to each of these areas respectively by composing the score for a large symphony orchestra—which he conducted himself—and by focusing the composition geographically, historically, emotionally, and dramatically. The former set of thematic goals was largely accomplished by Rózsa’s usage of leitmotifs: musical phrases assigned to specific moods and characters which are repeated throughout a film to help control the audience’s interpretations of any given scene. Post-war composers rendered the leitmotif generally insignificant as the film industry began to emphasize simplicity over grandeur.

The leitmotifs in the score of Ben-Hur, while certainly present, are not necessarily utilized in the traditional way. Instead of attributing musical characteristics to every main player in the film, Rózsa composed a series of orchestral themes that accompany the various relationships between the characters. These themes maintain their recognizable shape throughout the film but shift forms with the ebb and flow of these relationships. For example, Esther’s appearances are accompanied by romantic, string-heavy music—as she is the object of Judah’s affections. This theme is continually associated with Esther but returns in different styles as she and Judah experience their love through close connection, distance, apprehension, and resurrection. Along with the themes meant to heighten the narrative of these relationships, there are those that punctuate the important scenes in the film—such as the death of Messala and the crucifixion of Christ—and are thus forever associated with the images on the screen.

2. Psycho and film music of the 1960s

Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho was scored on a budget. Composing the right music to accompany a film became a more economical task after the classical era, and so it was less realistic to employ the efforts of an entire symphony. So, the resourceful Bernard Herrmann cut everything but the strings, which resulted in Psycho’s unforgettably shrill and disarming soundtrack. The technique that Herrmann applied to his composition of the score involved a lot of repetition and looping. These aspects are alarmingly present in the film’s theme and the famous shower scene.

While it is still certain that the scores that followed in the 1960s continued to be indicative in many ways of the tone of specific scenes and the emotions of specific characters (much like the leitmotifs of classical scores), Psycho set the stage for a new type of soundtrack that was less a piece of the narrative and more heavily relied on for atmosphere. This is reflected in the bouncy, light-hearted jazz trombonists running throughout Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Henry Mancini), the Eastern European folk-influenced score to Doctor Zhivago (Maurice Jarre), and that unforgettable whistling riff that we now associate with all westerns from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Ennio Morricone).

3. Growth of Music in Film from the 1940s through the 1970s

Many aspects of scoring popular films changed between the late 1940s and the early 1970s. The transition from classical practices like those discussed in relation to Ben-Hur, to simpler modes of soundtrack assembly happened quickly and almost seamlessly. The aspects of this transition can almost be reflected in the mission of the film score itself: to underline the narrative, enhance the overall atmosphere, and blend into the background in such a way that the music is almost part of the dialogue. However, during the classical era, the soundtrack was relied on more heavily to fill in gaps left in the narrative—to more or less help the audience understand the emotions behind a certain character or event when those emotions weren’t adequately written into the script.

The practice of using music as narrative filler did not, and has not, disappear(ed) completely. The evolution of this practice is easy to trace throughout the time period in question, and even up to today. As noted earlier, Ben-Hur marked the temporary end of classical scoring methods. It was the last to employ leitmotifs in the soundtrack as a means of expressing tone and feeling. The 1950s also represented the golden age of the musical genre, and thus the storyline was conveyed via dialogue, music, and lyrics. The classic musical of 1952, Singin’ in the Rain (Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed) is a good example of this. The title of the movie comes from the standout song that describes not just the overall tone of the scene in which it is featured, but also the overall tone of the entire film.

The 60s and 70s, in keeping with the traditional uses mentioned, introduced a new way to use music in film by compiling pre-existing popular songs. Employing these songs for the purpose of expressing specific feelings associated with a character became known as a sort of internal soundtrack. An example of this is the usage of Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” in the opening scene of 1967’s The Graduate (score by David Grusin, songs by Paul Simon). Compilations of popular music have since become heavily relied upon in the process of setting music to film.