 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Ceremony was the 9th episode of The Waltons TV series, for which Jerry Goldsmith wrote the famous main theme (in addition to scoring several episodes including the pilot episode, The Homecoming). I decided to watch this episode because I kept hearing other people recommend it as one of Goldsmith's best TV scores. People like zooba particularly calling attention to the fact that it fell under his "Jewish" output thanks to the subject matter of a Jewish family moving to America to flee the Nazis, and their fear of encountering the same racism in the U.S. that they suffered in Germany. I'm a big fan of Masada, QB VII (maybe my favorite all-around Goldsmith score), and even The Going Up of David Lev, so I had to give this a listen and found it at Dailymotion online:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8gisv3
It turns out that what I'd heard about this score was both right and wrong: the good news is that YES it is one of Goldsmith's loveliest scores for television, with several lengthier and more developed cues to showcase his talent for melody and development. What I found inaccurate was its characterization as a "Jewish" score. The vast majority of the music is in the Waltons Americana mode (and lovely stuff it is). I would estimate less than a third of the score to be Jewish sounding (though what is there is fantastic!)
Sadly I didn't have the time to do notes for this score, because it is almost up there with Crawlspace from the same year in terms of quality. I hope you'll follow the link above and hear for yourself, with the below Complete Score Breakdown as a cue guide if you're too short on time to actually watch the episode:
0:00 - 1:36 Main Title 1:36
1:37 - 2:16 1. A Family from Germany :49
6:07 - 7:13 2. A Lotta Changes 1:06
10:40 - 12:31 3. It Begins 1:51
12:31 - 13:14 4. Unanswered Knock :43
13:27 - 13:53 5. We’ll Come Back Later :26
20:13 - 24:03 6. It’s Important / Someone to Blame 3:50
25:44 - 26:03 7. Friends :19
26:03 - 26:25 8. Reckless :22
28:06 - 30:46 9. Trust 2:40
32:58 - 33:31 10. Respect :33
33:31 - 34:30 11. Be Sensible :59
35:30 - 38:15 12. Tired / A Visit 2:45
41:52 - 42:39 13. Heritage Returned :47
43:51 - 46:07 14. The Bar Mitzvah 2:16
48:50 - 48:58 15. No Time to Start That :08
48:59 - 49:52 End Credits :53
TOTAL TIME: 19:34
(I excluded the Main Title and End Credits music which were not specifically composed for this episode.)
Perhaps some day I'll come back to this post with my "Advanced Liner Notes" approach. I certainly hope tapes for this score and other Waltons episode scores turn up some day after all, even though Lukas has previously told us that only the pilot film The Homecoming survived. I'm very curious to hear what the rest of you think of this lovely music, in any case!
Yavar
--
Full series:
FACE OF A FUGITIVE (1959) Advance Liner Notes:
http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=113490&forumID=1&archive=0
TAKE HER, SHE'S MINE (1963) Complete Score Breakdown:
http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=113552&forumID=1&archive=0
THE MAN (1972) Advance Liner Notes:
http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=113568&forumID=1&archive=0
CRAWLSPACE (1972) Advance Liner Notes:
http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=116952&forumID=1&archive=0
DO NOT FOLD, SPINDLE, OR MUTILATE (1971) Complete Score Breakdown:
http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=116974&forumID=1&archive=0
The Waltons: THE CEREMONY (1972) Complete Score Breakdown:
http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=117025&forumID=1&archive=0
DAMNATION ALLEY (1977) Advance Liner Notes:
http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=117082&forumID=1&archive=0
PURSUIT (1972) Advance Liner Notes:
http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=117275&forumID=1&archive=0
BLACK PATCH (1957) Advance Liner Notes:
http://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=119663&forumID=1&archive=0
DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE (1955) Advance Liner Notes:
https://www.filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=134694&forumID=1&archive=0
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I just thought I'd bump this once since no one replied and it's such a fantastic score. I hope some of you take the time to listen to the music, even if you don't watch the whole episode -- that's why I provided the helpful index points to skip ahead to Goldsmith's contribution(s).
Today I'll be working on Pursuit, since I found it online for streaming. After that, I might tackle Shadow of a Man, an unsold pilot that made it onto TV as an episode of Kraft Mystery Theater (only one scored by Goldsmith, I believe). I was planning to do A Score Without Strings, his only score for Bracken's World, but the uploaded version of that is not the complete episode so I think I'll hold off. The first score breakdowns I'll be doing that aren't online will be Shamus and Black Patch, since they would go nicely on a potential new recording as pairs for Pursuit and Face of a Fugitive, respectively.
Yavar
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Man, these spammers are getting clever!
They sound like us now!! 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
