The Film Music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Volume 2

Released in July 1940, The Sea Hawk was Korngold’s last swashbuckler, and is arguably the finest film ever made in the genre. Certainly it is one of Errol Flynn’s greatest films, and had a lavish budget for its time of $1.7m. It represents all that was best about Hollywood’s golden age – fine casting, an intelligent and literate script, lavish production values and, above all, one of the best scores ever written for a film, which has profoundly influenced the medium to this day. One of the most difficult assignments of Korngold’s career, it required a score of extraordinary length and complexity. The music was superbly multi-layered and thematically complex, literally sweeping the film along and matching its extraordinary visuals. Composition began just two days after the filming had been completed: in a special projection room equipped with a piano, Korngold had the reels of film run for him repeatedly while he improvised his music on the piano to the running footage. Later, he would then complete a full, annotated piano score. His training in the late romantic symphonic traditions served him well.