Wuthering Heights (1939) | Keeping the Score Series

Be it a gentle piano interlude or a glorious orchestral fanfare, no element of filmcraft sets a movie’s tone and identity quite like the musical score. Film music has the power to underline a filmmaker’s narrative ideas, forge our bond to a heroic character, and move us to the point of tears. Join us all year long as we showcase cinema’s iconic composers whose musical talents enrich the images we see on screen and have us humming their unforgettable melodies as we exit the auditorium. The series continues in June with the melodrama WUTHERING HEIGHTS! See it at 4pm or 7pm. 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗧𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀: countytheater.org/specials

𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗲: Made during Hollywood’s golden age, WUTHERING HEIGHTS is the first film adaptation of Emily Brontë's timeless novel. Set in 19th century England, a tortured love affair develops between Cathy and her impoverished childhood friend Heathcliff. Heathcliff is devastated and departs after Cathy decides to marry a wealthy man, later returning with a self-made fortune. A classic tale of passion, obsession, and revenge, WUTHERING HEIGHTS was nominated for 8 Academy Awards and is considered a masterpiece of romantic filmmaking.

𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲: The prolific composer Alfred Newman (perhaps best known for creating the fanfare that plays with the 20th Century Studios logo) received one of his staggering 45 Oscar nominations for WUTHERING HEIGHTS. Newman’s score is expansive, filling most of the film’s runtime as it spans the decades of Cathy and Heathcliff’s torrid, yet doomed love. He incorporates distinctive leitmotifs to represent the story’s main players. “Cathy’s theme,” defined by spare, lonely horns overwhelmed by soaring strings, reflects the character’s conflicted yearnings between a life of privilege and a life with Heathcliff. By contrast, the musical ideas for Heathcliff are appropriately somber and urgent, a roiling surge of resentment, regret, and unrequited emotion. And the music to evoke the lush moors of WUTHERING HEIGHTS, invoking a heady mix of brass and strings and flutes, is duly playful and romantic, hinting always at a better time long gone.

𝗦𝗲𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝗻𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 $𝟭𝟬! Become a member of our nonprofit theater for as little as $40 a year. Learn more at countytheater.org/membership
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