The Music of Ben-Hur

Here is an interesting feature that talks about the entire score of Ben-Hur by Miklos Rozsa. As far as epic scores go, this is one of my personal favorites. Unfortunately, the composer (to my knowledge) did not film many interviews, so we have to rely on interviews with other composers to learn about how the score was put together.

"Overture" from Ben-Hur by Miklos Rozsa

One thing that must be understood about "classic" Hollywood films (usually anything made before 1960) is that in those days, the large epic films were constructed very much like an opera or a play would be. By this I mean, they would have separate screens labelled "overture" (as Ben-Hur does above), "Intermission" and also "Exit Music" (music that would play while the audience left the theatre). This overture was composed by the Hungarian Miklos Rozsa for the 1959 epic Ben-Hur. He won the Academy Award for Best Score and many cite it as being one of the greatest film scores of all time. The image is an extreme close-up of the figures of Adam and God on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Above is the first eight measures from the beginning of the overture (from the original score)