A TALE OF THE SCORE
Ralph Erkelenz
A certain uniquely Hollywoodian aura of reverence so quickly engulfs any mention of Miklós Rózsa’s score for the film classic Ben-Hur, it seems altogether natural to assume that every nuance of the score might by now have undergone the closest scrutiny and critical assessment. Except for the shower of superlatives (and otherwise watery adjectives) that one might expect to rain down on any Academy Award winning score, it is somewhat surprising to discover, then, that Rózsa’s worthy effort has in fact received little critical attention in print.* Now, twenty-nine years after the film’s release, there still exists no straightforward cue-by-cue explication of the way in which Rózsa’s highly praised music actually fits the film. More importantly, we still lack a simple elucidation of the basic musical materials and methods he employed in meeting its complex challenges, both musical and dramaturgical.------* Though brief references appear throughout the Rózsa literature, only one full-length article is entirely devoted to the subject: Mark Koldys’ “Miklós Rózsa and ‘Ben-Hur’” in Pro Musica Sana, 3, No. 3 (Fall 1974), 3-20This is how Steven D. Wescott opens his article entitled, ‘Miklós Rózsa’s Ben-Hur: The Musical-Dramatic Function of the Hollywood Leitmotiv’, published in Film Music 1 (ed. Clifford McCarty, Garland Publishing, Inc., NY 1989, pp. 183-207). While he quite convincingly sets out to rectify the lack of ‘a simple elucidation of the basic musical materials’ in his text, he nevertheless deplores that the ‘prospect [of giving a straightforward cue-by-cue explication] looms beyond the reasonable scope of this brief article’ (p. 183).
Another fifteen years have passed since Wescott’s remark, and forty-five years since the score was first heard in a movie theater. I believe the time has come to at least give it a try and provide this cue-by-cue explication.