History of Movie Theme Music
January 19, 2019 1:06 PM Subscribe
I am looking for good online resources concerning the history of "theme music" being used in movies.
What do I mean by "theme music"? I'm not a musician so I may not have the proper terminology to describe it.
I mean something like the Star Wars theme - a piece of music that sets the narrative tone of the film (in this example: triumphant, militant, epic, etc) and which is used in various contexts in the film to reinforce that tone.
Other examples: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly / Rocky / Superman / Raiders of the Lost Ark
Note: I'm not interested in previously existing music/songs being used for a movie. For example: Saturday Night Fever (Bee Gees). I'm looking for music that was composed for the movie itself, with the idea that it would be the "theme" of the movie.
I'd love to know the earliest examples in film history of using such theme music (e.g., the Warsaw Concerto in Dangerous Moonlight), as well as any notable examples or points of interest.
Thank you!
What do I mean by "theme music"? I'm not a musician so I may not have the proper terminology to describe it.
I mean something like the Star Wars theme - a piece of music that sets the narrative tone of the film (in this example: triumphant, militant, epic, etc) and which is used in various contexts in the film to reinforce that tone.
Other examples: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly / Rocky / Superman / Raiders of the Lost Ark
Note: I'm not interested in previously existing music/songs being used for a movie. For example: Saturday Night Fever (Bee Gees). I'm looking for music that was composed for the movie itself, with the idea that it would be the "theme" of the movie.
I'd love to know the earliest examples in film history of using such theme music (e.g., the Warsaw Concerto in Dangerous Moonlight), as well as any notable examples or points of interest.
Thank you!
Yeah, I was coming in to say Leitmotiv and Romanticism but mskyle beat me to it. Wagner always comes to mind for me when I think of the OG theme song composer.
posted by Hermione Granger at 1:25 PM on January 19, 2019
posted by Hermione Granger at 1:25 PM on January 19, 2019
The YouTube channel Sideways touches on this a lot. This video might be closest to what you are looking for, but several other videos on the channel may also be of interest to you.
(The channel does have a video talking about themes vs. lietmotifs, but I found it a little confusing.)
posted by rakaidan at 8:26 PM on January 19, 2019
(The channel does have a video talking about themes vs. lietmotifs, but I found it a little confusing.)
posted by rakaidan at 8:26 PM on January 19, 2019
Sorry, I don't think that there is a definitive overview of Iconic melodic themes used in films that comes to mind. If there is, I'd be curious. Maybe someone should write one? There's lots of books about film scoring.
posted by ovvl at 6:12 PM on January 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by ovvl at 6:12 PM on January 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
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posted by mskyle at 1:18 PM on January 19, 2019 [4 favorites]