The Elephant Man: Original Soundtrack From The Motion Picture
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CD Details
Composer: John MorrisEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Soundtrack
CD Release Date: 1994-03-01
Music Label: Milan Records
Soundtracks:
- Elephant Man Theme
- Dr. Treves Visits the Freak Show and Elephant Man
- John Merrick and Psalm
- John Merrick and Mrs. Kendal
- The Nightmare
- Mrs. Kendal's Theatre and Poetry Reading
- The Belgian Circus Episode
- Train Station
- Pantomime
- Adagio for Strings
- Recapitulation
Music reviews of The Elephant Man: Original Soundtrack From The Motion Picture
Music Review: A Great Score for a Great Movie
Rating: 5 Stars
THE ELEPHANT MAN (1981) is a remarkable movie about a most remarkable man - Mr. John Merrick, called the Elephant Man because of a horribly disfiguring medical condition, was rescued from his life as a sideshow freak in late-Victorian England by Dr. Frederick Treves and moved to a hospital, where he was given the means to live out his remaining years in comfort and with dignity. John Morris (with some help from Samuel Barber) composed a score worthy of the film. In the movie, Merrick's life is an uneasy combination of the freak show and the drawing room - that is, his past as a circus attraction always threatens to overtake him, even in safe and infinitely more refined surroundings. This conflict is dramatized in the score, which I'll review track by track.
1. "The Elephant Man Theme." The Main Title is a perfectly conceived piece of music. The first half, with its Victorian music-box sound, represents John Merrick's boyhood; the second half, where bassoon, oboe, and glass harmonica enter, represents Merrick's surreal adult years in the freak show.
2. "Dr. Treves Visits the Freak Show and Elephant Man." Garish, tawdry circus music begins Track #2: Treves wanders about the carnival grounds in search of the much-advertised Elephant Man. Suddenly the forced-cheerful music fades away as Treves is led into a darkened room for a "private showing." Deep cello tones convey the chill and God-forsaken loneliness of the room; dissonance and an ironic repeat of the "Elephant Man Theme" convey all the horror, shock, and pity of Treves' first viewing of Merrick's deformed body.
3. "John Merrick and Psalm." From the depths of despair we are taken to Heavenly heights: Merrick's recitation of Psalm 23 convinces Treves and hospital chairman Frances Carr Gomm that his deformity is by no means mental or spiritual in nature. Serene flute notes begin the piece, which rises higher and higher, ending in a muted climax of strings.
4. "John Merrick and Mrs. Kendal." Here is another gentle and soulful piece dominated by warm strings. It illustrates a meeting of minds: John Merrick and Madge Kendal, a London actress, read a scene from ROMEO AND JULIET together in Merrick's rooms. The music depicts the growing attraction between the two, culminating in Mrs. Kendal's line, "Oh, Mr. Merrick! You're not an Elephant Man at all...You're Romeo."
5. "The Nightmare." The scene this music accompanies may be the most painful in the film to watch; in it Merrick's freak-show past finally catches up with him, and his refinement and newfound good fortune are cruelly mocked at him by a gang of low-lives and prostitutes. The music, however, is magnificent and conveys with full force the horror and humiliation Merrick feels as his worst nightmare is realized.
6. "Mrs. Kendal's Theater and Poetry Reading." The first half of Track #6 (which is presented out of sequence here; it should have come before Track #4) is what the theater orchestra is playing as Mrs. Kendal, being dressed for a performance, reads in a paper about the Elephant Man's genteel personality. The piece, though brief, brings us into the world of London high society. The second half was (I believe) originally meant for the Mrs. Kendal/John Merrick scene. This has a lovely pastoral feel, but the music that was actually used for the scene is more profound.
7. "The Belgian Circus Episode." This is not in the film but was apparently meant for the scenes where Merrick is being displayed at a Belgian freak show, much against his will. It is a tawdry-sounding repeat of the Elephant Man Theme with an interesting, desolate ending.
8. "The Train Station." This piece finds Merrick being chased and cornered in a London train station on his way home from Belgium. The twists and turns of the music brilliantly communicate his panic at finding unfriendly faces everywhere he looks. It has a forceful climax, reflecting Merrick's righteous anger at the close of the scene.
9. "The Pantomime." This joyous and dramatic waltz, reminiscent of Tchaikovsky or Johann Strauss, expresses the excitement of Merrick's evening of evenings, a visit to the theater.
10. "Adagio for Strings." Samuel Barber's elegy, relatively new in 1981, was the ideal choice for Merrick's death scene. It seems as though the piece was composed to communicate Merrick's very essence: gentle, pure of heart, and spiritually minded. As it plays, one knows a very special soul is passing from the world.
11. "Recapitulation." The final track is a medley that combines creatively varied versions of "John Merrick and Psalm," "John Merrick and Mrs. Kendal," and "The Elephant Man Theme."
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