Erich Korngold (1897-1957) arrived in Hollywood from Austria in 1934, having already achieved fame as a child prodigy, and as a Romantic style opera composer. He was a professor of opera and composition at the Vienna Staatsakademie before working in film scoring.[1] By this time the leitmotif-based symphonic score was already a proven formula forged by Max Steiner in King Kong (1933). Despite being a disciple of this scoring method, Korngold exhibited what Mervyn Cooke calls, “a lush self-confidence…and…achieved a kind of structural sophistication only to be expected of someone from Korngold’s background.”[2] Korngold described each film for which he scored as “an opera without singing,” jesting that Puccini’s Tosca was “the best film score ever written.”[3] It was also Korngold’s intention was that his complex film scores could function additionally as stand-alone concert pieces.[4]
Korngold wrote only nineteen original film scores, but his influence on other composers in the field spanned the entire twentieth century.[5] His operatic film scoring aesthetic[6] comes extremely close to Wagner’s “endless melody”, with the leitmotif showcased as the principle element. His score for The Sea Hawk (1940) is a prime example, including leitmotifs for the male and female leads, Captain Thorpe and Dona Maria, the Albatross, Thorpe’s ship, one for Spain and Hispanic references, one for Queen Elizabeth, as well as a “floating” theme that assigns itself to various characters and circumstances.[7] Throughout the film Korngold weaves and combines the themes seamlessly in and out of virtually every musical cue.[8]
The opening title begins with a brass fanfare in parallel triads, a harmonic structure that will recur later in the film. In reference to Korngold’s influence on later film composers, this fanfare inspired John Williams’ main theme of Star Wars.[9] The fanfare will also represent the main character, Captain Thorpe, just as the main Star Wars theme also represents Luke Skywalker. Using the form typical of the Golden Era, Korngold then shifts gears to the lyrical and romantic “floating” theme, a highly chromatic melody with ambiguous tonality.
Korngold wrote only nineteen original film scores, but his influence on other composers in the field spanned the entire twentieth century.[5] His operatic film scoring aesthetic[6] comes extremely close to Wagner’s “endless melody”, with the leitmotif showcased as the principle element. His score for The Sea Hawk (1940) is a prime example, including leitmotifs for the male and female leads, Captain Thorpe and Dona Maria, the Albatross, Thorpe’s ship, one for Spain and Hispanic references, one for Queen Elizabeth, as well as a “floating” theme that assigns itself to various characters and circumstances.[7] Throughout the film Korngold weaves and combines the themes seamlessly in and out of virtually every musical cue.[8]
The opening title begins with a brass fanfare in parallel triads, a harmonic structure that will recur later in the film. In reference to Korngold’s influence on later film composers, this fanfare inspired John Williams’ main theme of Star Wars.[9] The fanfare will also represent the main character, Captain Thorpe, just as the main Star Wars theme also represents Luke Skywalker. Using the form typical of the Golden Era, Korngold then shifts gears to the lyrical and romantic “floating” theme, a highly chromatic melody with ambiguous tonality.
Only 1’30” long, the opening title segues into the first scene where the Spanish locale is established through a habanera rhythm and castanets. Nine minutes into the film, Korngold will bring back the fanfare as we see Thorpe’s ship, and it will also reappear at moments of heroism, such as swashbuckling and the battle scene.[10] In Wagnerian style, Korngold extracts a three-note motif from the “floating” theme and creates another leitmotif that attaches itself to various situations; the slaves in the galley, in a playful style when Thorpe shoots the flag off the Spanish ship, in heroic form with brass when the Albatross sights England, in the processional at the English court. This “kinship” leitmotif, coupled with the initial romantic “floating” theme represents optimism, bravery and freedom.[11] The romantic theme later turns to minor mode as it foreshadows the Albatross being taken over by the Spanish, and the characters are tested. But it makes a triumphant return in major mode at the end of the film.[12]
Dona Maria, the female romantic interest has a unique theme that utilizes four groups of three notes each, played by the celesta, harp and vibraphone. It establishes as Dona Maria makes her first appearance in the film and is also incorporated into a song that Dona Maria sings. Korngold gives Dona Maria a second theme as well, which seems to indicate her relationship with others.[13]
Not only do the main characters have their individual themes, but Korngold gives the “coupling” of Thorpe and Dona Maria its own musical reference. In actuality, their theme is a transformation of the opening fanfare with its parallel triads, this time with strings instead of brass.[14] So dexterous is Korngold with his multiple themes, that in one sequence he moves from Dona Maria’s first theme, through a brief bridge of the her second theme, then alternates between the two in snippets sometimes only seconds in duration.[15] Korngold also skillfully mingles Thorpe’s theme with Dona Maria's as their romance develops.[16]
With over eighty per cent of The Sea Hawk underscored with music, it is a dazzling example of the Golden Era film score[17] which made Wagner its role model. In the words of Royal Ward, “Set free from having to compose extended melodies to be sung by the characters of the drama, Korngold employs what might be termed a compressed or condensed leitmotif structure unique to film scoring, in which the bulk of the musical material is constructed from various leitmotifs.”[18] It is a brilliant amalgamation of Korngold’s opera experience with the genre of film music.
Dona Maria, the female romantic interest has a unique theme that utilizes four groups of three notes each, played by the celesta, harp and vibraphone. It establishes as Dona Maria makes her first appearance in the film and is also incorporated into a song that Dona Maria sings. Korngold gives Dona Maria a second theme as well, which seems to indicate her relationship with others.[13]
Not only do the main characters have their individual themes, but Korngold gives the “coupling” of Thorpe and Dona Maria its own musical reference. In actuality, their theme is a transformation of the opening fanfare with its parallel triads, this time with strings instead of brass.[14] So dexterous is Korngold with his multiple themes, that in one sequence he moves from Dona Maria’s first theme, through a brief bridge of the her second theme, then alternates between the two in snippets sometimes only seconds in duration.[15] Korngold also skillfully mingles Thorpe’s theme with Dona Maria's as their romance develops.[16]
With over eighty per cent of The Sea Hawk underscored with music, it is a dazzling example of the Golden Era film score[17] which made Wagner its role model. In the words of Royal Ward, “Set free from having to compose extended melodies to be sung by the characters of the drama, Korngold employs what might be termed a compressed or condensed leitmotif structure unique to film scoring, in which the bulk of the musical material is constructed from various leitmotifs.”[18] It is a brilliant amalgamation of Korngold’s opera experience with the genre of film music.
[1] Brendan G. Carroll "Korngold, Erich Wolfgang." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online.
Oxford University Press, accessed November 18, 2012,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.huaryu.kl.oakland.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music /15390.
[2] Mervyn Cooke, A History of Film Music, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 95.
[3] Ibid, 93.
[4] Ibid, 94.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Jeongwon Jo and Sander L. Gilman, Wagner & Cinema, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010), 115.
[7] Ibid, 98.
[8] Ibid, 99.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid, 100.
[11] Ibid, 101.
[12] Ibid, 102.
[13] Ibid, 104-105.
[14] Ibid, 102.
[15] Ibid, 106.
[16] Ibid, 108.
[17] Ibid, 97.
[18] Ibid, 99.
Oxford University Press, accessed November 18, 2012,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.huaryu.kl.oakland.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music /15390.
[2] Mervyn Cooke, A History of Film Music, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 95.
[3] Ibid, 93.
[4] Ibid, 94.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Jeongwon Jo and Sander L. Gilman, Wagner & Cinema, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010), 115.
[7] Ibid, 98.
[8] Ibid, 99.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Ibid, 100.
[11] Ibid, 101.
[12] Ibid, 102.
[13] Ibid, 104-105.
[14] Ibid, 102.
[15] Ibid, 106.
[16] Ibid, 108.
[17] Ibid, 97.
[18] Ibid, 99.