Laurence Olivier’s Technicolor film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry V resonated powerfully with a war-weary public at the time of its release in November of 1944.
Shakespeare’s 1599 history play includes the stirring St. Crispin’s Day speech, in which King Henry rallies his outnumbered troops to triumphant victory against all odds at the Battle of Agincourt. (“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers…”) The film was originally “dedicated to the Commandos and Airborne Troops of Great Britain, the spirit of whose ancestors it has been humbly attempted to recapture.”
The film’s score was composed by Sir William Walton, who was employed by the British War Office to write music for patriotic-themed films. Walton’s film scores, of which there are more than a dozen, and patriotic marches such as Crown Imperial, contain enticing foreshadowings of the adventure music of John Williams, from Star Wars to Indiana Jones. Walton attempted to create music which served and never overshadowed the action on the screen. He believed that “film music is not good film music if it can be used for any other purpose.”
William Walton allowed two self-contained excerpts from the Henry V score to be played in the concert hall: Death of Falstaff and Touch Her Soft Lips and Part. (Others, such as the conductor, Malcolm Sargent, created full suites from the score). Both are scored for string orchestra, a choir-like staple of English music.
Death of Falstaff is a somber, funereal passacaglia. The passacaglia, a set of variations which develop over a repeating bass line, was a popular compositional device in the Baroque period. Walton’s repeating bass line quotes the melody of the 16th century ballad, Watkin’s Ale.
In the film, Touch Her Soft Lips and Part accompanies a scene in which soldiers departing for war in France bid the women a tender farewell. Set in a lilting 3/8 time, the music resembles a siciliana. Dreamy and wistful, it is filled with longing inner voices.
I. The Death of Falstaff (Passacaglia):
II. Touch her soft lips and part:
Recordings
- Walton: Henry V – Two Pieces for Strings, Leonard Slatkin, London Philharmonic Orchestra Amazon
Featured Image: the 1944 film, “Henry V”