Thanks for the inside scoop, John! How did you get the chance to meet Ròzsa?

Yes, it seems that was the case with the Crucifixion scene. I looked it up in Roger Hickman’s well done Film Score Guide on Ben-Hur and he discusses the use of the Friendship and Hatred (or Messala) themes in this cue, saying “the extent of Ròzsa’s involvement in this choice for arguably the film’s most dramatic moment is uncertain. John B. Archibald decries the choice as being made by ‘some minor functionary’. Regardless of the intention for borrowing this cue, the presence of these themes at this dramatic point elevates their stature, giving them symbolic weight as representing human love and hate, flawed qualities that have led to this moment. If the decision was indeed made by a minor functionary, then he must have had some knowledge of music” (p. 137). He then goes on to say how well he thinks the music fits the scene. I think in the intervening years since I wrote this post, I’ve come to view many unusual dramatic choices in film scores as the result of decisions made, as you say, by people other than the composer. The reasons are usually because of a temp track the composer needs to follow closely or because of changes made to the film after all the music has been recorded, a trend that has become much more prevalent in recent years because of the use of digital editors, which make changes quick and easy to make. In any case, it’s fortuitous in this case that the rejected Aftermath music (which was replaced with Bitter Triumph) worked so well to tie the film’s narrative themes together in one of its most important scenes!

e

Thanks for your comments, Sue. In the final shot where we see the shepherd walk across the screen, the theme we hear is actually a counterpoint to the theme for Christ and is set, as you say, in a mode. The precise mode is Lydian, which sounds like major but with the fourth degree of the scale raised by a semitone. This particular mode creates a less familiar sound than major, but one which sounds brighter and more optimistic because of its characteristic raised fourth. So it tends to occur with more positive situations, as in the theme for the character of E.T. (not the “theme from E.T.”, but the theme for the character), or at the end of the Columbia Pictures fanfare, or here in the Christ theme after the miracle has taken place.

An absolutely favourite score of mine and we are fortunate to have you to analyse this quite wonderful music. Thanks