Kings Row fanfare

Kings Row fanfare continued Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s late career transition from period piece and adventure films to adult dramas whose darker tones and complex narratives, which lent themselves well to his operatic writing. Korngold was very much attracted to the psychology and complexity of this character driven drama. What resulted was one of the finest scores he ever composed, which was at once sumptuous, melodically rich, and full of heartache and nostalgia. What is remarkable is that he wrote twelve themes, one for each character, as well as numerous secondary motifs. The manner in which he weaves his themes together, varies their expression, and joins them with exquisite contrapuntal writings offers testimony to his compositional gift and mastery of his craft. In many ways Kings Row is, from a compositional standpoint, perhaps the most satisfying, and best score Korngold ever composed.