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benhur2001 · Jun 1, 2013, 12:43 PM

My question concerns the score to this classic film by Alfred Newman. In the final scene the dowager Empress (Helen Hayes) is asked by her cousin, Prince Paul what she will tell the guests who have assembled to see Anastasia (Ingrid Bergman) who has fled with Gen. Bounin (Yul Brynner). The dowager replies, "I will tell them, the play is over - go home!"

There is a piece of music written by Newman underscoring this sequence that is NOT contained on the original album or any of the subsequent re-issues. I am interested in knowing two things - first: what is the name of this piece of music, and second, is there anyway I can get my hands on a copy of it for a class I am conducting on the importance of music and film.

I bought the CD believing the orchestral arrangement would be included. Regrettably, this has not been the case. Any info you could provide would be appreciated. Thank you.

Wondergirl · Jun 1, 2013, 12:45 PM

Do you have the DVD of the movie? Is there any listing of the music for the film? ***ADDED I just reread your post and see that there is no listing. How soon do you need this information?

benhur2001 · Jun 1, 2013, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by Wondergirl

Do you have the DVD of the movie? Is there any listing of the music for the film? ***ADDED I just reread your post and see that there is no listing. How soon do you need this information?

I was hoping to have something for this coming Friday, but either way I will have to either do or do without. I've been to the various websites dedicated to music listings of soundtrack 'tracks' but none seem to have a comprehensive listing for Newman's score. They all crib from the album which is decidedly not a faithful reproduction of the film score in its entirety. I've asked only for the identity of the last track but the album omits various other crucial tracks as well. I have the listing for the album. There are 14 altogether. None belong to this sequence and #14 doesn't even belong in the film - it's a piano demo of Newman playing his own main theme.

Wondergirl · Jun 1, 2013, 01:02 PM

Originally Posted by benhur2001

I was hoping to have something for this coming Friday, but either way I will have to either do or do without. I've been to the various websites dedicated to music listings of soundtrack 'tracks' but none seem to have a comprehensive listing for Newman's score. They all crib from the album which is decidedly not a faithful reproduction of the film score in its entirety. I've asked only for the identity of the last track but the album omits various other crucial tracks as well. I have the listing for the album. There are 14 altogether. None belong to this sequence and #14 doesn't even belong in the film - it's a piano demo of Newman playing his own main theme.

The movie is available at my library, and I can check it out and watch it on Monday. I can't guarantee I will recognize the piece of music, but is this worth a try?

benhur2001 · Jun 1, 2013, 01:14 PM

Originally Posted by Wondergirl

The movie is available at my library, and I can check it out and watch it on Monday. I can't guarantee I will recognize the piece of music, but is this worth a try?

Thank you so much. That would be extremely helpful. I've listened to it over and over again. Newman was famous for reusing portions of his scores in movies. I suppose we can't blame him. He wrote scores for over 200 movies - a more comprehensive master of the underscore I do not think you will find - although Miklos Rozsa, Max Steiner, Erich Korngold and Elmer Bernstein come immediately to mind.

Newman, for example, reused the end of his own score to 1939's Hunchback of Notre Dame for the execution sequence that concludes The Robe (1954). In the days when no one could go back and revisit movies and soundtracks like we can today this was not only feasible but prudent and it saved a lot of time. I honestly don't know how Newman managed to conduct and compose as much original scoring as he did. His artistry confounds me.

That's why he's a perfect example for the class. But I've poured over my other Alfred Newman scores and there's nothing in them that even remotely sounds like this last piece of music. I wish I could find out what it is and where I can get a copy without the dialogue to share with the class.

Anyway, thanks so much for your time and interest in this question. It's perplexed me for at least three weeks. I hope it doesn't do the same for you.

Best regards.

Wondergirl · Jun 1, 2013, 01:19 PM

Originally Posted by benhur2001

Thank you so much. That would be extremely helpful. I've listened to it over and over again. Newman was famous for reusing portions of his scores in movies.

Do you think the piece of music you are talking about is original to Newman or is from a larger classical piece?

Wondergirl · Jun 1, 2013, 01:24 PM

This is no good?

Anastasia (Original Film Score)

GB -- https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/an...re/id570390168

CA -- https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/an...re/id570390168

benhur2001 · Jun 1, 2013, 02:57 PM

Sorry, I stepped away from my computer for dinner. I'm just getting to your research now. No, as I said, I have the soundtrack album. It DOES NOT contain the piece of music I am interested in.

To answer your question from the previous reply, the piece I am speaking of is not a classical piece but actually composed by Newman for the film. If you listen to the track #6 The Tivoli/The Sleeping Princess at the tale end of the track you will hear a variation of the melody Newman composed for the finale. I can send you that track if you like from my private email so that you can have a listen.

Anyway, it is definitely a Newman original and not a classical piece. I should point out that track #6 has absolutely nothing to do with Tivoli. Track #11, the Riberhaus March is the track that accompanies the sequence at the Tivoli Gardens. Track #6 is an abridged recording of two themes - the first taking place in a restaurant where Anastasia gets quietly drunk with Prince Paul. The latter half - containing the variation on the piece I am referring to is used in the sequence where the dowager Empress Maria returns to her castle after a reluctant refusal to see Anastasia.

As I said before, the soundtrack album is a badly mangled affair. Thankfully it is not a re-orchestration of the original music (which a lot of the OST's released throughout the 1950s and 60s were! Why? I'm not sure) but Newman's score has been assembled with no rhyme or reason. Tracks are mislabeled and themes have been linked together and labeled as one track for a particular corresponding scene in the film that they DO NOT belong to.

Regrets. But thank you so much for your continued efforts.