Western Movie Soundtrack Music

Cafe Society
1

What was the first western with a soundtrack? Which was the first with an orchestral score with no vocals? I was watching “The Cowboys” this afternoon. It was released in 1972, pretty late in the history of westerns, and it had what I.think of as a stereotypical western score. Who do we have to thank for this artifact?

2

I don’t know about the first, but The Magnificent 7 was well known for it’s score back in 1960.

3

Another one is Jerome Moross’ score for The Big Country.

4

No love for Ennio Morricone? You can’t even think “Western Soundtracks” without this little number

5

I don’t know about “the first” but STAGECOACH (1939) is certainly very western-archetype music.

6

Aaron Copland wrote the orchestral film score for 1949’s The Red Pony (1949 film) - Wikipedia.

The Academy Awards has been handing out film score Oscars since 1934, so scores must precede that by a few years at least. The Lost Patrol was a nominee, so we know the early awards included non-musicals.

7

I cannot answer the question specifically but I certainly feel that the theme from “How The West Was One” is one of the greatest.

8

You people. I’m the first one to blurt out Dmitri Tiomkin? Take 'em to Missouri, Matt.

9

Now that I think about it, movie scores actually preceded movie sound. A lot of silent movies were accompanied by live musicians, or they were in large movie houses in large cities. And.. just found this story that more than 500 musical scores (the sheet music), some to Charlie Chaplin films, were rediscovered in a Birmingham England library.

From the article:

10

Thank you, Haven.

Do you happen to know where the library is?

11

Thank you all for your responses. I will have to check out these films. I’m pretty sure Morricone’s style is not what I’m looking for.

12

While it doesn’t tell you a lot about music, this list does mention the first silent Westerns (which were presumably accompanied by sheet music or recordings) and the first Westerns with sound:

http://www.filmsite.org/westernfilms.html

I would guess that John Ford had the greatest influence on the development of the modern Western’s background music. His films were filled with music, often ad nauseam.