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Critical Analysis Assignment 2 (May 2011)% Student Number 1035897

A Close Reading of the Love Scene from The Adventures of Robin Hood

The score to The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), composed by Erich Wolfgang Korngold
(1897-1957), is widely regarded as “[an] outstanding masterpiece of the genre.1” It could be argued
that the most important musical sequence in the film is the love scene (also known as Liebes-
Szene (in the concert suite), Quasi Romanza (in the short-score manuscript), Robin Hood Visits
Marion (on the ʻoriginalʼ soundtrack album) or, formally, Cue 8B (that is, the second cue on the
eighth reel) which runs from approximately 01:09:11 to 01:15:05 on the BluRay disc).

It is the longest continuous cue (lasting about 5¾ minutes on the original soundtrack, but up to
6½ in some newer re-recordings), and as such, it can be considered to stand alone as a musical
composition in its own right. Its inclusion on all the available CD compilations of the score, coupled
with the fact that Korngoldʼs own concert suite includes the entire cue verbatim, is testament to its
musical importance.

Korngoldʼs initial sketches for the film, penned before arriving in Hollywood, “included many of
the principal themes and an early version of the love scene in virtually its final form.2” The sceneʼs
tender fairytale atmosphere and calm pace - in contrast to the rest of the filmʼs “90% action3” - al-
lowed Korngold a luxurious, broad canvas to present and develop extended melodic ideas that
form the “emotional heart4” of the entire film.

Korngold described his film scores as “operas without singing5 ”. As an operatic composer of
great prowess, the musical language of opera was a natural influence. Indeed, when considering
“the kind of dramatic problems films presented to [him], [Korngold] merely looked… to those com-
posers [Wagner, Puccini, Verdi, Strauss] who had... solved almost identical [dramatic] problems in
their operas.6” The Love Scene, although sharing such operatic devices as leitmotif and a some-
what contrived dramatic structure, has a markedly lighter tone (due in part to the transparent or-
chestration and largely diatonic melodies) when compared, for example, to the passionate and in-
tensely chromatic love scene from the end of Act 2, Scene 2 of Wagnerʼs Tristan und Isolde.7

1 Carroll, Brendan G., A Masterpiece of Film Scoring (booklet from the Marco Polo 8.225268 CD recording, p. 7

2 Winters, Ben, The Adventures of Robin Hood: a Film Score Guide, p. 76-77

3 (An initially dismissive description of the film in a letter by Korngold to Hal B. Wallis, the executive producer.)

4 Carroll, Marco Polo booklet, p. 17

5 Classical Music Hideout? Itʼs in Hollywood (http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/mar/19/20040319-082119-4135r/?page=all)

6 Prendergast, Roy M., Film Music: a Neglected Art, p. 39

7(One film score that does take dark and passionate Wagnerian music to its extreme is, of course, Bernard Herrmannʼs
Vertigo (1956) - particularly the analogous cue 13B: Scène dʼAmour)

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Critical Analysis Assignment 2 (May 2011)% Student Number 1035897

The sequence can be broken down into distinct sections, and described thus:

1) Ruhig bewegt (quasi Romanza)8 / Robinʼs Climb

Robin climbs the wall of Nottingham Castle to Marianʼs balcony. We hear a significantly trans-
formed version of Robinʼs Theme: where it is usually presented as a triumphant trumpet fanfare, it
is now given to divided first violins 9, the tempo is slowed, and the harmonic undercurrent is a
shimmering arpeggiated A minor-7th-flat-5 (half-diminished) chord - the same type of chord that
characterises the opening of Tristan und Isolde - subtly setting up the Romantic scene.

Fig. 1 - Robinʼs trumpet theme transformed into violins

This theme originates from Korngoldʼs concert piece Symphonic Overture ʻSursum Corda!ʼ
(op. 13). It is heard at the very start of the piece, played hervortretend (prominently) by a trumpet.
The first few notes are intoned without valves, solidifying the fanfare association.

2) Rehearsal 2 / Marian Discusses Love with Bess

The top note of Robinʼs Theme is a G (in this context forming the 7th in the previously men-
tioned A minor-7th-flat-5 chord). As we, the audience, are visually transported upwards to Marianʼs
room, where she has her ʻhead in the cloudsʼ, that G is ʻtoppedʼ by the violins rising grandly to a G-
sharp on the shot change, now forming the top of an F-sharp dominant-9th chord, which smoothly
sets us up for a tranquil B major incantation of the Love Theme proper. Incidentally, to make an-
other comparison to Wagner, the fairly uncommon key of B major is also the key in which Isoldeʼs
Liebestod ultimately ends.

Again, this theme comes from Korngoldʼs existing Sursum Corda. (In the Schott full score of
that piece, it can be seen in the strings, 6 bars after Rehearsal 17, and again 3 bars before Re-
hearsal 41.)

The initial phrase of the Love Theme is played not on romantic violins, as one might expect,
but on a single trumpet10 , played with much vibrato. It is no coincidence that the trumpet, a tradi-

8 Bar numbers/figure references will be taken from the Liebes-Szene (concert suite), since it matches the film precisely.

9In Korngoldʼs sketch for this cue, the scribbled instructions to the orchestrator to use celesta and muted horns are clear
enough, but the top line is illegible. Presumably it says “I V.” meaning ʻfirst violinsʼ.

10 Korngoldʼs sketch marks the entry ʻTrp. openʼ (i.e. full-bodied and not muted)

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Critical Analysis Assignment 2 (May 2011)% Student Number 1035897

tionally masculine instrument, here played in a dolce cantabile style, corresponds to Marianʼs line:
“Heʼs brave and heʼs reckless, and yet heʼs gentle and kind.”

Fig. 2 - The Love Theme

Though the theme is clearly in B major, it cadences several times on unrelated major chords,
perhaps mirroring Marionʼs giddy excitement: A-flat major (instead of the harmonically expected G
major, following a D7) 1 bar after Rehearsal 5, C major (again following a D7) 1 bar before Re-
hearsal 6, and an abrupt shift to D-flat 2 bars after that.

Some further points of apparently meaningful synchronisation occur in this subsection: a ten-
der celesta cadence (2 bars before Rehearsal 4) filling in Marianʼs hesitation after the line “When
you are in love…”, a slithering, uncertain chromatic line in the strings on the line “...your legs are as
weak as water.”, and a tranquil string cadence in the romantic, remote key of D-flat major on the
line “...when he looks at you.”

3) Rehearsal 7 (Andantino) / Robin Enters

Robin announces his arrival by completing Bessʼs line: “Thereʼs not a doubt… that youʼre in
love!” just as the Love Theme cadences in its ʻproperʼ key of B major. Marianʼs surprise at the un-
expected intruder is highlighted by the poco sforzando sustained low B on the violins (doubled in
unison with cor anglais, alto sax, horn and vibraphone). Her apprehension is short-lived: as the in-
truder is revealed to be Robin, the B is revealed to be nothing more than the dominant of E major,
and the melody dances playfully upward, ʻsafelyʼ sticking to the notes of the scale, at least for
seven bars. It is on the peak of the scale (the top B) that Marian breathlessly exclaims “Robin!”

Fig. 3 - The Love Theme continued (B-theme)

At this point, the perfunctory explanatory dialogue and musical thematic presentation is over,
and so Korngold, at Rehearsal 10, develops the themes introduced thus far. A rising semiquaver
motif in the saxophones and clarinets (which alludes to the equivalent rising portion of Robinʼs-
Theme) is toyed with for 4 bars, before Bess, with mock mournfulness, scuttles out of the room to a

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Critical Analysis Assignment 2 (May 2011)% Student Number 1035897

solo violin. She turns, grins and curtsies on the sustained B (see Fig. 4), as if cheekily commanding
the Love Theme to repeat itself, which it does, in its charming diatonic simplicity.

Fig. 4 - Climax of the B-theme

Korngold cleverly makes the dialogue inadvertently comment on the music: Robinʼs line “Now,
letʼs see. Where does this game begin? Oh, I know. Itʼs simple.” has the word ʻsimpleʼ occurring on
the ʻsimpleʼ mi re do phrase ending (see Fig. 3).

4) Rehearsal 16 (Tempo I: Ruhig bewegt) / Robin Almost Leaves

Marian claims that she is not in love with Robin, and implores him to leave the room. He pre-
pares to exit through the window, to the accompaniment of the same music with which he entered -
that is, his own Robin Hood theme in a subdued string-based variant. This time, the motif is trans-
posed down a perfect 4th (now starting on G rather than C) and is harmonised with a pad of E mi-
nor 7th. The flattened 5th is nowhere to be seen. Such a chromatic signifier of drama or tension
would contradict the fact that Marionʼs request and Robinʼs compliance are merely coy games.

5) Rehearsal 19 / Return of the Love Theme

Robin makes three sarcastic jokes about toppling from the window, and, mirroring the tripartite
structure of the musical phrases, Marion is charmed by the third one and the expansive dominant
9th chord once again introduces the Love Theme, now in the higher, brighter, more exultant key of
D major.

Fig. 5 - The Love Theme blossoms (trumpet)

Although the essential content of the bars that follow is identical to the corresponding passage
previously heard, and although we must remember that the raw melodic material has its roots in a
concert piece having nothing to do with the film, Korngold still manages to skilfully sculpt the musi-
cal phrases tightly to the picture during the second statement of the Love Theme. The brief celesta

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Critical Analysis Assignment 2 (May 2011)% Student Number 1035897

flourish which previously highlighted an apt piece of dialogue now highlights another: “So you do
love me?”…“You know I do.”

At Rehearsal 21, the violins in octaves (and thickened by an oboe) play the soaring theme con
espressione and their melodic contours gracefully match Robinʼs physical movements: a glide11
upwards, through the window (dominant 13th chord), and a solid landing on the floor (tonic).

Although the harp has thus far been playing throughout the whole cue, it has a very prominent
ʻHollywoodʼ glissando leading up to the big embrace, 1 bar before Rehearsal 22. (Interestingly, nei-
ther the Kojian or Stromberg re-recordings accentuate this climactic harp glissando)

The chromatic string line at Rehearsal 23 (which previously corresponded to the “weak as wa-
ter” line) now corresponds to the jovial line: “Heʼll make me court jester.”…“He wonʼt, heʼll stick your
funny head on London Gate!”

6) Rehearsal 24 (Moderato assai) / Coda 1 - King Richardʼs Theme

The theme beginning on the line “Youʼre the most beautiful.”, while previously used as a noble,
rousing theme (especially at the very start of the film) is here used as a seamless continuation of
the romantic tapestry. Unlike in other places, where exact instrumental colour was left to the dis-
cerning taste of the orchestrators, Korngold specifically marks ʻVcl.ʼ (cello) in his sketch score at
this point. The tessitura, phrase length and idiomatic song-like articulation are highly suitable for
the cello, and thus the theme is effective at conveying the ʻlove of countryʼ with which King Rich-
ardʼs theme is alternatively associated.

Fig. 6 - King Richard the Lionheartʼs Theme12

At Rehearsal 29, Robin kisses Marion again, on the peak of the theme (the high B), which this
time is dispassionately marked poco allargando by Korngold (who, judging by his atrociously

11The strings players in this era would have interpreted the con espressione as an instruction to play with lots of vibrato
and portamento (a technique and aesthetic personally admired by the author, but often shunned as twee or sentimental
by modern players.)
% In the DVD documentary Music for the Movies: The Hollywood Sound, John Mauceri poetically laments (at
00:57:54): “The only place in the world where you could get an orchestra to play like that, without being embarrassed,
would be Hollywood. There will inevitably be [players] who would [make fun] of that kind of playing, which was basic,
emotional, beautiful, loving music, seen as being affected, over-the-top, unacceptable, saccharine. It starts to become in
bad taste to link two notes together, the portamento… in [the 1940ʼs]...it just came as a natural expression of emotion,
the way a person would sing if you were walking in the woods.”

12 (The authorʼs personal favourite)

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Critical Analysis Assignment 2 (May 2011)% Student Number 1035897

scruffy handwriting throughout the sketch score, worked at incredible speed). The orchestrators
added an actual fermata on this high B, to accommodate the length of the on-screen kiss.

7) Rehearsal 31 (Dolcissimo) / Coda 2 - Marionʼs Theme

ʻDolcissimoʼ, meaning ʻas sweetly as possibleʼ, is certainly an accurate description of the violin
solo that contrasts with the previous cello solo. It plays Marionʼs Theme (first heard during the
filmʼs first reel, and also played there on violins), just as Robin dons his titular hood and climbs si-
lently out of the window, bringing the cue, and the scene, to a satisfying close in G major. The pe-
nultimate bar in Fig. 7, marked molto espr. falls on Marionʼs glowing face.

Fig. 7 - Marionʼs Theme

It appears that Korngold had to extend the end of this cue, no doubt because of minor edits
made after the cue was initially composed. In the original sketch score, the final bar is written in
pencil beyond the end of the printed stave lines. In the finished film there is another slight exten-
sion: the orchestrators have added two extra bars: the strings sustain their G major chord, and solo
flutes and a cor anglais play the first few notes of King Richardʼs Theme (which spell out a 2nd in-
version G major chord). This extension acts to smooth the transition between the end of the Love
Scene and the beginning of the next one.

In the BluRay commentary track for this sequence, the film historian Rudy Behlmer states (at
01:12:30), “Youʼll notice... that composer Korngold has wisely pitched the music just underneath
the pitch of de Havillandʼs and Flynnʼs voices. This aids in the all-important and subtle balance be-
tween the spoken word and the music at the final dubbing.”

Perhaps Behlmer is confusing pitch with volume, because to state that the pitch of the music is
ʻunderʼ the voices is false by any reasonable definition of ʻpitchʼ, as evidenced by studying the cor-
responding score passage (either at the point mentioned, or throughout the film.)

The point at which Behlmerʼs comment is made corresponds to Rehearsal 22 (Con Passione),
where the texture is rich and the range of pitches is wide. In the second and third bars after this
rehearsal number, the violins have a crescendo marked, yet the dubbing mixer audibly turns down
the music at this point to make way for the dialogue.

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Critical Analysis Assignment 2 (May 2011)% Student Number 1035897

The reason that Korngoldʼs score for The Adventures of Robin Hood rarely, if ever, sounds
muddy or cluttered is that he has ʻpremixedʼ the score by making careful choices regarding chord
voicings and timbral combinations.

Thus, the comment about Korngoldʼs ʻwisdomʼ is crude and somewhat misleading. I do not
mean to criticise Korngoldʼs technique; on the contrary, it is not necessary to literally pitch instru-
mental music ʻunderʼ voices in order to be heard, as any study of a climactic opera scene will dem-
onstrate. Furthermore, one of the principal benefits of working in the medium of film is that the bal-
ance between musical elements, dialogue and sound effects is completely adjustable after the re-
cording session, and so mere ʻpitchingʼ is only partially relevant.

The unavoidable danger with an analysis such as this is that, beyond a certain threshold, in-
terpretative claims about the synchronous relationship between music and moving image can only
be speculative. Humans, as evolved pattern-seekers, will naturally find moments in a film where a
certain element or combination of elements may appear to have special significance where none
was intended by the composer, or where the connection was brought about by the composerʼs
pure serendipity, rather than a calculated intellectual effort.

For this reason, as you will notice, I have included a minimum of personal opinions about the
ʻmeaningʼ of Korngoldʼs music and its relationship with the images, and concentrated primarily on a
functional, descriptive deconstruction.

Film Source
! The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) - BluRay (Region 1)

Sheet Music Sources


% Korngoldʼs short score sketches to the complete film (247 photocopied pages)
% Warner Brothers rental material (handwritten full score) for the Symphonic Suite (116 pages)
% Schott engraved full score for Symphonic Overture ʻSursum Corda!ʼ, op. 13 (79 pages)

Soundtrack Sources
% Original Soundtrack conducted by Korngold
% Varujan Kojian conducting the Utah Symphony Orchestra
% William Stromberg conducting the Moscow Symphony Orchestra

Books
! Ben Winters, The Adventures of Robin Hood: a Film Score Guide
% Roy Prendergast, Film Music: a Neglected Art

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