G1CS11 Critical Studies: Film Music

History
Lecture 03
The Golden Age of Film Music

Slides adapted from material by Dr Phillip Johnston and Jonathan Dower

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 The Wizard Of Oz (1940)

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 Early History of Sound Film

• The advent of synchronized sound gradually brought an end to the

live accompaniment of silent film in the years between 1927 (The
Jazz Singer) and the early 1930s.

• Thousands of musicians who worked in the orchestra pits were out

of work, though some moved to Hollywood to join the studio
orchestras that would record scores for films.

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 Early History of Sound Film

• Early film music scores were initially recorded live on the

set, which was both costly and inefficient.

• Once a method of “dubbing” the music on to the film was

developed, this practice was abandoned.

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 Early History of Sound Film

Many of the composers who dominated Hollywood film

scoring in the first two decades of recorded film music (the
“Golden Age” of film scoring) were born in Europe, and
trained in the tradition of opera and dramatic music of
Wagner, Strauss and Puccini. 

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 Early History of Sound Film

• The ‘leitmotif’ technique of dramatic music writing, used

powerfully by Richard Wagner in his operas, was very
influential on these composers.

• Early films were often scored with wall-to-wall music, with

themes or motifs attached to characters, locales, and
narrative elements.

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 Early History of Sound Film

• Many of these composers (eg. Korngold, Rózsa, Tiomkin) had

fled the rise of Nazism in Europe, and those who were from
America were trained in the same European idiom, American
music not being valued much yet.

• The Golden Age composers would go on to write much of the

music for the iconic American films: the Westerns, the Film
Noirs, and the melodramas of American families.

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 CLASSICAL FILM MUSIC:
PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION, MIXING AND EDITING

• Claudia Gorbman’s book, Unheard Melodies: Narrative

Film Music is one of the most important and influential
books on film music.

• Her “Classical Film Music: Principals Of Composition,

Mixing And Editing” gives a succinct overview of the
prevailing codes of film music which are still broadly
followed today.

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 CLASSICAL FILM MUSIC:
PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION, MIXING AND EDITING

I. Invisibility: the technical apparatus of non-

diegetic music must not be visible.

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 CLASSICAL FILM MUSIC:
PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION, MIXING AND EDITING

II. “Inaudibility”: Music is not meant to be heard

consciously. As such it should subordinate itself to
dialogue, to visuals – i.e., to the primary vehicles of
the narrative.

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 CLASSICAL FILM MUSIC:
PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION, MIXING AND EDITING

III. Signifier of emotion: Soundtrack music may set

specific moods and emphasize particular emotions
suggested in the narrative (cf. #IV), but first and
foremost, it is a signifier of emotion itself.

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 CLASSICAL FILM MUSIC:
PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION, MIXING AND EDITING

IV. Narrative cueing:

—referential narrative: music gives referential and

narrative cues, e.g., indicating point of view, supplying
formal demarcations, and establishing setting and
characters.

—connotative: music “interprets” and “illustrates”

narrative events.

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 CLASSICAL FILM MUSIC:
PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION, MIXING AND EDITING

V. Continuity: music provides formal and

rhythmic continuity—between shots, in
transitions between scenes, by filling “gaps.”

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 CLASSICAL FILM MUSIC:
PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION, MIXING AND EDITING

VI. ç

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 CLASSICAL FILM MUSIC:
PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION, MIXING AND EDITING

VII. A given film score may violate any of the principles above,
providing the violation is at the service of the other
principles.

– Claudia Gorbman, Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music

For further detail see pages 73-91.

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 Composers of The Golden Age:
Max Steiner (1888-1971)

• Born in Vienna, Austria

• Studied with Gustave Mahler
• Worked on Broadway as a composer,
conductor/arranger for musical theatre for
15 years, before going to Hollywood in 1929
• Established many of the stylistic and technical practices that
would define the approach to film scoring for the next 20
years
• Credited as the inventor of the “click track”
• Nominated for Oscar 26 times (won 3x)

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 Composers of The Golden Age:
Max Steiner (1888-1971)

• Selected Filmography: 

King Kong (1933)

The Informer (1935)*
Dark Victory (1939)
Gone With The Wind (1939)
Casablanca (1942)
Now, Voyager (1942)*
Since You Went Away (1944)*
Key Largo (1948)
The Searchers (1956)

* Academy Awards

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 Early History of Sound Film

One of the first scores to occupy a

major place in a film was Max
Steiner’s score for King Kong
(1933), which covers 75 of the 103
minutes of the film, used 46
musicians, including extra
percussion, and had a total budget
of $700,000.

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 Composers of The Golden Age:
Max Steiner (1888-1971)

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 Composers of The Golden Age:
Max Steiner (1888-1971)

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 Composers of The Golden Age:
Max Steiner (1888-1971)

Analysis: King Kong (1933): Arrival at Skull Island

Directed by Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack
Composer: Max Steiner

• Intermixing of diegetic & non-diegetic music: African drumming and

orchestral score.
• Steiner’s approach: Carefully follows dramatic beats, without
much use of themes/motifs.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxUpwURUq7U

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 Composers of The Golden Age:
Erich Korngold (1897-1957)

• Born in Vienna, Austria

• Studied with Strauss and Mahler
• Had begun a career as a serious
composer of operas and orchestral
music when he emigrated to
escape Hitler
• Much admired and emulated in
Hollywood
• Known for his historical dramas
and adventure films

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 Composers of The Golden Age:
Erich Korngold (1897-1957)

Selected Filmography:
• Captain Blood (1935)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood
(1938)*
• The Sea Hawk (1940)
• Kings Row (1942)
• Of Human Bondage (1946)

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Composers of The Golden Age:
Erich Korngold (1897-1957)

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Composers of The Golden Age:
Erich Korngold (1897-1957)

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 Composers of The Golden Age:
Erich Korngold (1897-1957)

Analysis: Captain Blood (1935): Main Titles & first scene

Directed by Michael Curtiz
Composer: Erich Korngold

• Main Titles begin with a fanfare-like motif, connected to Dr. Peter Blood.
• The Main Titles are composed of two themes, the adventure/heroism
theme, and the romance theme.
• The opening scene begins with some Steiner-esque
‘storm/danger/riding’ music following the action of the rider.
• As soon as the POV shifts to the inside of Peter Blood’s house, the main
motif returns. The score is very motif-driven, with the Peter Blood motif
returning whenever he appears.

Link: (audio only) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwGcfCItHUo

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Composers of The Golden Age:
Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995)

• Born in Hungary in 1907, he was a

child prodigy who established a
career in European classical music
before he came to film scoring
• Rózsa was one of the most
influential and sophisticated of the
Golden Age film score composers.
• He was known especially for his
scores for Film Noirs, and for
historical epics.

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 Composers of The Golden Age:
Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995)
• Selected Filmography:

• Thief of Baghdad (1940)

• Double Indemnity (1944) (dir. Billy Wilder)
• Spellbound (1945) (dir. Alfred Hitchcock)
• Lost Weekend (1945)
• King of Kings (1961)
• Lust For Life (1956) (dir. Vincent Minelli)
• Quo Vadis (1959)
• Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982)

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Composers of The Golden Age:
Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995)

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Composers of The Golden Age:
Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995)

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Composers of The Golden Age:
Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995)

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Composers of The Golden Age:
Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995)

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Composers of The Golden Age:
Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995)

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 Composers of The Golden Age:
Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995)
Analysis: Spellbound (1945): Late night rendezvous
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Composer: Miklós Rózsa

• Begins with statement of romantic theme; cue is

scored almost entirely with romantic theme, and a
secondary theme.

• Dynamics and orchestration is used extensively to

accommodate dialogue.

• Insanity theme played on theremin.

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 Composers of The Golden Age
Other important composers of the Golden Age of Film Music include:

Franz Waxman – The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Sorry Wrong Number (1948),
Sunset Boulevard (1950)*
Alfred Newman – The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939), Wuthering Heights
(1939)*, All About Eve (1950)
Dimitri Tiomkin – High Noon (1953)*, The High and the Mighty (1954)*, The Old
Man and The Sea (1958)*, Gunfight At The OK Corral (1957)
Victor Young – Ministry of Fear (1944), Around The World In Eighty Days (1951)*,
The Quiet Man (1952)
Hugo Friedhofer – Lifeboat (1944), Body and Soul (1947), The Sun Also Rises
(1957), The Blue Angel (1959)
Roy Webb – Cat People (1942), I Walked With A Zombie (1943), Notorious (1946),
Out of the Past (1947)

*winner of Academy Award for Best Musical Score

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 Key Terms
•  Leitmotif: a recurring musical idea, usually associated with a
particular person, place or idea. a/k/a motif.

• Golden Age (of film music): a period from the early 1930s
until the mid 1950s, in which the techniques and styles of
orchestral film scoring were established, and flourished
during the Hollywood “studio” system.

• Continuity: the process of joining together a series of

individual shots into a seamless film narrative. Music is often
called upon to aid in the sleight-of-hand in maintaining this
illusion.

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 Key Terms
•  Leitmotif: a recurring musical idea, usually associated with a particular
person, place or idea. a/k/a motif.

•  Golden Age (of film music): a period from the early 1930s until the mid
1950s, in which the techniques and styles of orchestral film scoring
were established, and flourished during the Hollywood “studio” system.

•  Continuity: the process of joining together a series of individual shots into a

seamless film narrative. Music is often called upon to aid in the sleight-of-
hand in maintaining this illusion.

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 Further Reading
• Gorbman, C. (1987). Unheard melodies: Narrative film
music. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. (pp 73-91)

• Cooke, M. (2008). A history of film music. London:

Cambridge University Press. (pp 67-113)

• Cooke, M. (Ed.). (2010). The Hollywood film music reader.

Oxford: Oxford University Press. (pp 55-68, 117-138, 153-
172)

• Prendergast, R. (1992). Film music: A neglected art. New

York: Norton. (pp 35-97)

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 Further Viewing
Watch an entire film and listen to the score:
Suggestions:
• King Kong (1933)
• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
• Gone With The Wind (1939)
• Spellbound (1945)
• Sunset Boulevard (1950)
• All About Eve (1950)

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