Kings row follows two friends and the women who love them, and makes a pretense of showing the scandal lurking just beneath the surface of a prim small town. The caverns of the human mind are full of strange shadows. I am so glad that i read kings row and thank anne rice for suggesting it. The story of drake mchugh and his best friend parris mitchell coming of age in a sleepy midwest american town of the 1890s was by far henry bellamanns most recognized work. Williams star wars and korngolds kings row scores october 28, 20 rich drees features be it coincidence or homage or the outright hope that they dont get caught aping someone elses movie, filmmakers have been replicating the work of those who have gone before them for some time now. Kings row soundtrack suite erich wolfgang korngold youtube. The film is also available to view on amazons instant rent and there are various clips on youtube, but not the entire film. Composed and conducted by erich wolfgang korngold, performed by the warner brothers studio orchestra. Suite music by erich wolfgang korngold performed by national philharmonic orchestra conducted by charles gerhardt one of the most beautiful and brilliant suite of the national. Kings row the sea wolf by erich wolfgang korngold limted.
Casey robinson from a bestselling 1940 novel of the same name by henry bellamann. I only actually need the main title theme as im using it for an analysis about williams star wars. Korngold, erich wolfgang kings row suite buying sheet music and downloads from schott music. Find books like kings row from the worlds largest community of readers. Kings row was released four months after pearl harbor, although it had been filmed and edited by midoctober, 1941, with only erich wolfgang korngold to add the music. Kings row is a 1942 film starring ann sheridan, robert cummings, and ronald reagan that tells a story of young people growing up in a small american town at the turn of the twentieth century, beset by social pressure, dark secrets, and the challenges and tragedies one must face as a result of these hard facts. While many people can hear in john williams star wars score elements of holsts the planets, the main theme and indeed the orchestral arrangement minus the piano was borrowed from the great composer erich wolfgang. This is the only extended recording of korngolds remarkable kings row. Erich wolfgang korngold may 29, 1897 november 29, 1957 was an austrianborn composer and conductor. The movie starred ann sheridan, bob cummings and ronald reagan.
I decided to read kings row prior to writing this blog, and went to rollas library 3 weeks ago to get the book. Erich wolfgang korngold national philharmonic orchestra. Korngold concerto for violin and orchestra in d major. Tony thomas in the revised 2nd edition of his excellent book, music for the movies, about the popularity of korngolds kings row score, saying it was the. Kings row was the peyton place of the 1940s, and after a few attempts at a script, warners finally got the censors to approve one. Kings row is one of my 2 favorite books the other is a tree grows is brooklyn. Books similar to kings row meet your next favorite book. The music korngolds focus changed after the war to music of a more serious nature. Does anyone know where i can download the score for kings row online. Parris mitchell scotty beckett is a young boy growing up in the town of kings row, where he becomes close friends with cassandra mary thomas. Released by varese sarabande in 1979 vcd 47203 containing music from kings row 1942. Composed and conducted by erich wolfgang korngold, performed by the warner brothers studio.
Charles gerhardt conducting the national philharmonic. Kings row soundtrack suite erich wolfgang korngold. According to brendan carroll in his biography of korngold, the composer, thinking this was another royal story, set about writing the celebrated fanfare theme of this movie. Disability representation, henry bellamann, and korngolds musical subtexts in the score for kings row neil lerner pp. Kings row soundtrack from 1942, composed by erich wolfgang korngold. Exposing hypocrisy and smalltown secrets, the novel deals with themes of mental illness, incest, homosexuality, suicide, gender equality in relationships and sadistic vengeance. Considering this was done in the early 40s, the subject matter is handled honestly but with the kind of discretion it would never receive by any of. Kings row from erich wolfgang korngold buy now in stretta sheet.
Korngold believed he was creating music for operas without singing and endeavored to craft scores that could pass the concert hall test. Korngolds music for that film helped make a movie star out of the young ronald reagan, and a kings row orchestral suite was performed as part of reagans inaugural celebration in 1981. Kings row is considered one of korngolds more notable compositions. When he finally viewed the roughcut film and saw that it was, in. Korngolds influence can be heard in the music of todays film composers such. The novel, i am informed, was sanitized to make the film, and it plays a precursor to peyton place, without the prurience or edginess or even the gorgeous technicolor which made the. The existing original soundtrack snippets which is being charitable available from time to time were recorded well over 60 years ago, and sound every minute of it. Kings row is the first novel of henry bellamann that ive read and enjoyed so much. Kings row is a 1942 film starring ann sheridan, robert cummings, and ronald reagan that tells a story of young people growing up in a small american town at the turn of the twentieth century. Erich wolfgang korngold national philharmonic orchestra, charles gerhardt kings row. A child prodigy, he became one of the most important and. First up, the june selection, kings row henry bellamanns massive novel follows the lives.
The film also features betty field, charles coburn, and. He wrote exquisite scores for such classic films as the adventures of robin hood, the sea hawk, and kings row, and also left a sizeable body of works for the concert hall and stage. Kings row is a stunning score that is not well served by. An eighth, parris mitchell of kings row, was completed and brought to publication by bellamanns widow. Erich korngold, from vienna to hollywood jewish week. Bards summer music festival takes up his complicated journey. A seemingly quiet midwestern town is the hiding place for a number of sordid secrets in this melodrama based on henry bellamanns bestselling novel. Everything in the book was intwined with everything else. Kings row by henry bellamann meet your next favorite book. Kings row by sam wood ann sheridan, robert cummings. Ilka gruning, ludwig stossel, erwin kalser, ludwig hardt and hermine sterler, most of. Kings row wikimili, the free encyclopedia wikimili, the free encyc. Some of the movies he scored include the prince and the pauper 1937, juarez 1939, the sea hawk 1940, the sea wolf 1941, kings row 1941, and deception 1946.
Korngold began to compose his themes immediately upon being told the studio wanted him to score something called kings row not unreasonably, he assumed a story by that name was to be another of the historical epics and swashbucklers that had been his bread and butter at warners since captain blood six years earlier. Although it does leave out the controversial elements of the book, it still manages to get the main story acrossthat of parris robert cummings, drake ronald reagan, and randy ann sheridan, from. Turner classic movies will be airing kings row next week on tuesday, april 12, at 8. The sea hawk original film score by erich wolfgang. Erich wolfgang korngold had written the scores for several important movies for warner brothers, including the private lives of elizabeth and essex 1939. The music of kings row, composed by erich wolfgang korngold, has been described as one of the greatest film scores ever written.
His best efforts from that period included the sea hawk, the adventures of robin hood and kings row. The picture was directed by sam wood the film was adapted by casey robinson from a bestselling 1940 novel of the same name by henry bellamann. A child prodigy in his native vienna, erich wolfgang korngold found. Kings row 1940 was the most successful of the seven novels of music teacher, academic administrator, and serious lay student of psychology henry bellamann. The film was adapted by casey robinson from a bestselling 1940 novel of. The first thing that will knock younger viewers for a loop is the bombastic erich wolfgang korngold music score, which clearly provided the inspiration both in form and specific orchestration for john williams star wars theme. Erich wolfgang korngold, charles gerhardt kings row amazon.
Kings row is prime material for rediscovery by a new generation. As each of the titles for 2012 have a filmed adaptation, this year we will also be looking at each movie version as well. The definitive recordings of the korngold scores, even more so than his own performances from the warner bros. From the opening scenes when we see the participants as children, the sweeping lyrical string melody forms an essential partnership with the camera. Kings row 1942 with ronald reagan classic film freak. Kings row 1942 was an adaptation of the henry bellamann novel. Eric wolfgang korngolds film score for the 1942 movie kings row has a familiar ring. The picture was directed by sam wood the film, which was ronald reagans most.
Henry bellamann shocked me with his good characteriation of all the characters, major and minor. Kings row is perhaps the granddaddy of all smalltown epicsa strong story line, an excellent cast and all of it punctuated by one of erich wolfgang korngolds most melodious background scores. Start your 48hour free trial to unlock this kings row study guide and get instant access to. The early 1970s sound is opulent, and the cd includes portions of the scores. Erich wolfgang korngold national philharmonic orchestra, charles gerhardt. Erich korngold, from vienna to hollywood the austrian composer fled the nazis for warner brothers studio. I read it a few months ago, shortly before i turned 15.
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