: (John Williams) Among the many
adaptations of Charlotte Brontë's famed feminist novel of 1847, the
1970 television version starring Susannah York and George C. Scott has
been largely forgotten. At the time, it was one of a series of dramas
shot by Delbert Mann for debut on small screens in America while
enjoying theatrical releases overseas. Because of the latter
distribution, 1970's
was shot like a major feature film
and attracted talent to its production in part because of the success of
Mann's prior entries of this nature. The story of the novel remains
largely intact in this telling, with only the dialogue updated a bit to
account for more modern audiences. The titular governess of the
Rochester estate at Thornfield Hall, who had escaped her troubled youth
as an orphan at an abusive school, finds herself immersed in a mystery
at Thornfield that is only complicated by the affections of Rochester
himself. Much melodrama ensues, with a crazy wife hidden in the attic, a
blinding attack with fire, weepy runaways, and a creepy pious man's
advances all adding up to a sappy scene of redemption and acceptance at
the end. The tale has always made eyes roll, but the setting of
Yorkshire is the star of this particular show, Mann certain to evoke the
authenticity of the area at every possible moment on location. Touring
Yorkshire with Mann was composer John Williams, with whom he had
collaborated with acclaim for 1968's
. The composer was
inspired to start writing material for
based upon that
visit and the screenplay long before spotting sessions occurred,
professing the importance of capturing an English spirit in his writing
along the way. His passion for the project yielded what the composer has
long admitted is a personal favorite score from his own career. Indeed,
is a highly motific and well-considered representation
of the storyline, and the composer eventually re-transcribed a suite of
main ideas for his regular concert series after the original sheets were
burned. Several of his stylistic devices in this work were revisited by
Williams in his early 2000's scores of high profile,
remaining more comfortable with that period of his writing than his
otherwise more folksy late 1960's and early 1970's career sound.
One difficulty in appreciating the music for
Jane
Eyre, however, is that no comprehensive release of the film's score
has ever been possible. Listeners have been forced for many decades to
make peace with Williams' album arrangements, which are mostly the only
source that has survived. As such, with a significant amount of music
from the film itself not available outside of context for so long, only
the composer's standard rearrangements and additions for the
commensurate LP record of the era could drive a review of the music. But
Williams did take care with that presentation to offer a representation
of the score's five themes and various instrumental concentrations. He
utilized 60 players in the English orchestra, with brass applied
sparingly and electric and regular harpsichord added for the genre. The
piano is a vital component of the score because of its performances by
Jane on screen. Woodwinds and strings are the heart of the tale, with
bassoon playing an important role for moments of intrigue and fear.
Fascinatingly, Williams did experiment with some synthetic manipulation
in the work, using an echoing harp-like effect as the score's
representation of eeriness. During the attack sequence in "Thwarted
Wedding," echoplexed strings invade the soundscape, but most of this
tool's use is confined to background ambient contributions to plucked or
keyboarded performances. These techniques do sound a bit odd outside of
context, but given the creepiness of what seems like a ghost story for
part of the plot, the use is appropriate, even if such use continues to
haunt Rochester all the way through the "Reunion" cue. Of the five
themes in
Jane Eyre, three are recurring throughout but only one
dominates overall. The main love theme of the score is clearly the
winning and memorable identity, integrated directly as source music,
heard performed twice by Jane on piano in the film. There is no small
irony that the composer named his love theme from
Star Wars: Attack
of the Clones "Across the Stars," because the irony is not lost that
the 2002 theme carries great resemblance in style to the love theme of
Jane Eyre, and one of the 1970 score's most notable performances
of it comes in a cue titled "Across the Moors." The construction of this
older love theme is typical to Williams' broader, later method of
conveying an A phrase of a theme twice before launching into a B phrase
and then repeating that trio multiple times.
The main love theme from
Jane Eyre occupies all
of the album-only arrangement of "The Love Theme From Jane Eyre." A
clear preview of "Across the Stars" opens the first ten seconds of this
performance with lovely romantic sway. The main A phrase debuts on piano
and harpsichord at 0:11 and repeats twice as it intensifies. The more
hopeful B section of the theme follows at 0:56 on woodwinds. Both
excellent melodies, the A phrase returns with ensemble size at 1:22,
again repeating with additional layers, and the B phrase picks up at
2:00 on rambling piano and is a highlight of the piece. Williams returns
to the A phrase again on more restrained strings and piano to close out
that suite. The love theme rescues listeners from the Thornfield
material at 1:27 into "Overture (Main Title)" and follows the full
suite's A and B phrase presentation of the theme with a magnificent
crescendo. Williams arranged the idea for recorder, acoustic guitar, and
viola in "Meeting," and the guitar especially shines in this
album-targeted rendition. The theme laments with heightened romantic
tragedy at 0:20 into "Across the Moors" but vitally returns on flowing
piano at 2:27 into "Reunion (End Title)" as Jane professes her love,
building to a crescendo for the end credits. In the film itself, this
idea is accessed more frequently by Williams, especially in the latter
half of the work. On the flipside is the second most important theme,
that for the oddities of Thornfield. Mysterious, repeated ascending
phrases are followed by an elegantly descending resolution, and this
material very strongly previews Williams' first two
Harry Potter
scores. It debuts at 0:24 into "Overture (Main Title)" and is developed
with strings in agony for the longest and most aggressive performance of
the theme. In that cue, the idea reasserts its melodrama and slight
darkness at 2:26, highlighted by Williams' standard bassoon lines for
menace. The Thornfield theme opens "Grace Poole and Mason's Arrival"
with a decent dose of mystery, a clear precursor for
Harry Potter and
the Chamber of Secrets, and explodes for a few full renditions from
the ensemble at 2:25 with much torment. The theme eerily meanders
through the middle of "Thwarted Wedding" for the backstory revelation as
well. Stylistically related to this material is Williams' minor theme
for the abusive Lowood school early in the narrative. Halfway through
the sickly childlike but demented "Lowood" is slight waltz that
additionally foreshadows suspense from the
Harry Potter
scores.
The third recurring theme in
Jane Eyre is rather
underdeveloped and unmemorable, but it still represents the sadness of
Rochester with dignity. This wandering identity shares some of the
descending phrasing with the love theme and opens "Overture (Main
Title)" on harpsichord. It's adapted into a spirited scherzo in "To
Thornfield," a piece not in the film but one that Williams dearly loved.
On album, this theme doesn't have any impact on the middle of the
presentation whatsoever until providing critical solace at the opening
of "Reunion (End Title)" on solo flute and harp, expanding upon the
idea's secondary phrasing. The only other theme in
Jane Eyre is
revealed late in the narrative because it represents the character of
St. John, who helps Jane recover after fleeing Thornfield and somewhat
coldly proposes marriage to her. A bassoon introduces this theme at the
outset of "Restoration," a track that serves as an expanded album
presentation of the idea. This arrangement rotates between this theme's
A and B phrases at great length, offering more grandiose, religious
tonalities with the exuberant B phrase's respites. The love and
Rochester theme interruptions of this material in the film itself were
not included in this piece. With the actual narrative of the score for
Jane Eyre largely absent from any album, it's challenging to
consider the score as anything other than a series of fascinating and at
times very engaging thematic expressions that don't always fit together.
Even today, it's not clear what compositions Williams wrote before
spotting versus those intended for the album. The source cue "Festivity
at Thornfield" was likely recorded for the record, though the "More
Festivity" track later discovered and released actually does appear in
the movie. The album presentation was released on CD by Silva Screen in
1988 and 1999 and then by La-La Land Records in 2012. Only in 2023 did a
minimally expanded offering emerge; Quartet Records released (with
Heidi) the same tracks with four additions, one being a short
source piece and three alternate takes discovered on superior tapes
closer to the masters with higher quality sound. The three alternates
indeed sound really good, the cymbal at the start of "The Love Theme
From Jane Eyre" a notable addition. Even on this product, though, there
exist artifacts on the previously released tracks; woodwinds and piano
in the first suite track are sometimes distorted, and the same occurs at
the peak of "Grace Poole and Mason's Arrival." Like
Heidi, the
romanticism of
Jane Eyre remains popular with older Williams
collectors, though casual listeners may be best served seeking a more
recent concert arrangement in better sound quality.
@Amazon.com: CD or
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- Music as Written for the Film: ****
- Music as Heard on Album: ***
- Overall: ****
| Bias Check: |
For John Williams reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.67
(in 90 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.54
(in 356,795 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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