Friday, October 2, 2009

Musical Themes from Glory

In Ch. 3 of HtM, we discuss a scene from Glory (1989) in detail. In the graphic below, I have transcribed three important melodies, two of which appear in that scene or immediately thereafter. The Bugle Call (a) was heard early in the film and is played again at the end. Melodies (b) and (c) are the principal themes in James Horner's orchestral underscore, which is developed almost entirely out of them (they even form the basis of the end credits music). Theme (c) often follows immediately after (b), as if it's an ending phrase (or coda), but it is used independently as well.

Theme (a) appears in its entirety during the second segment of the party scene, a conversation between Shaw and Governor Andrew, at the mention of Antietam (DVD timing 00:11:40). Theme (b) appears in the third segment, under conversation (00:13:00) as Shaw and his friend Forbes talk about forming the regiment, then more plainly in the foreground @ 00:13:44. Details for the first part of the scene are given in HtM. Here is a link to a page that gives details of the second and third parts: Boston Party Scene, 2-3.