HERBERT STOTHART Marie Antoniette (1938) Overture Presentation

The special overture created by Herbert Stothart for the Premiere and initial roadshow presenations of the opulent film version of Stefan Zweig's life of Marie Antoinette made in 1938 by MGM with unparalleled extravagance. The overture was cut on general release but happily survives in vivid sound for a film of this vintage. BIOGRAPHY Herbert Stothart September 11, 1885 February 1, 1949 Herbert Stothart is perhaps the one composer from Hollywoods Golden Age who is overlooked or if remembered at all, somewhat disparaged. This is largely due to his predilection for borrowing themes from other composers, mostly the classics, in his scores, and no matter how skilful, his music is often derided as pastiche. This has led to frequent charges of deliberate plagiarism over the years, but I think it's rather unjust. Stotharts background was in theatre, and he was well used to taking whatever music he thought would be best suited to a dramatic situation, without credit. He was also capable of writing affecting, intensely romantic melodies, usually played by the strings in unison with considerable portamenti throughout. While many hands helped create MGMs scores, it was always Stotharts name on the credits and one can usually tell which themes are his by the thick unison string scoring. Like Steiner, Korngold and Rosza, he had his own musical fingerprint and it is very recognisable to anyone with a musical ear. Marie Antoinette was perhaps Stotharts finest hour and also the most ambitious project of his career. With a running time of 160 minutes, the lavish film starred Norma Shearer, Tyrone Power, John Barrymore and a huge supporting cast, cost over $2 million and was 4 years in preparation. Stothart created an opulent score drawing on themes by Mozart, Gluck and others, as well as contributing his own love theme. It was nominated for Best Score by the Academy, but this was the year of Korngolds The Adventures of Robin Hood and there was no contest. Stothart was nominated for a number of Oscars, finally winning for The Wizard Of Oz in 1939, beating Steiner for Gone With the Wind and Korngold for The Private Lives of Elisabeth & Essex!