Do you know if anyone--even MR himself--has ever arrainged an Easter cantata from the music?
Also, the Martyrs' Chorus theme, did you know that the tune was an actual song from ancient Rome, one of the few tunes that we know? The "Hymn to Nemisis".
Excellent Observation
shareWhat about the song about flames and fire that Nero sings with his harp? Would be interesting to hear it again.
I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It smells like victory.
Anyone notice the music at the end that sounded just a little like the chariot race theme in Ben-Hur.
"Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil."
Proverbs 15:16
MR's was very effective in creating a great mood setting score, but I humbly observe some of his work is somewhat repetitive. Watching QV on DVD I found one scene in particular -Marcus Vinicius rushing from Anzio back to the city when Rome is set to fire- to be scored (briefly) with a theme which was re-used in Ben Hur nine years later. Still, no one could do it as Maestro Rosza could.
Prov. 15-16. Ah ! He's so right !
The fire song by Nero is actually an old folksong from Sicily adapted by Rózsa. The march at the end of the movie was again used in Ben-Hur and the theme for the burning Rome was reused as Gratus´entry into Jerusalem in Ben-Hur.
shareYes, exactly !. Yet, Maestro Rosza is rather a genius regardless.
I recall reading some of his notes in early 60s about how he sought inspiration for Ben Hur, by spending weeks among the Forum ruins in central Rome pencil and notepad in hand. He wrote how locals would look at him funny when he hummed some ideas out loud. So what if he went back to his archive for existing material.
Fascinating man of a now gone era. More is the pity, I say.
And part of the music from the chariot race from Ben Hur was used in Marcus' triumphal entry into Rome
shareMiklos Rozsa was very honest in admitting he borrowed music from Quo Vadis to use in Ben Hur when it begun to look as if he would not make the deadline.
shareTruly, he had something like 6-8 weeks to compose a new score for a long movie. The music he reused were only very short snippets in Quo Vadis, and he expanded on them in Ben-Hur. They sounded better anyway since Ben-Hur was released in stereophonic sound and Quo Vadis wasn't. Most of the Ben-Hur music was original and the entire score is what many consider the greatest film score ever created. It also can stand alone as a tremendous work of musical art. I consider his work in Quo Vadis as a tune-up for his later masterpiece. There's no comparison in soundtracks. Even the "Making of Quo Vadis" documentary in the new DVD uses Ben-Hur music, lol! I would also say whether he intended it or not that reusing some of the same music provided some continuity. After all in the few decades between the times of Quo Vadis and Ben-Hur the Romans were probably still playing the same marches! (-:
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