Richard III

music for the film


General InformationInstrumentationManuscriptPublicationArrangementsRecordings


General Information:

Composition:
1955

Film First Shown:
13 December 1955. Leicester Square Theatre, London.

Film Personnel:
Producer/Director: Sir Laurence Olivier
Screenplay: Adapted from the play by William Shakespeare
Cast: Sir Laurence Olivier, Cedric Hardwicke, Sir Ralph Richardson, Sir John Gielgud, Claire Bloom, Stanley Baker
Musicians: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Muir Mathieson conductor.
Studio: Shepperton Studios

Craggs Catalogue Number:
C63


Instrumentation:

2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, cor anglais, clarinet, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon – 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba – timpani, 2 or 3 percussion (side drum, tenor drum, small tabor, tambourine) – organ – strings


Manuscript:

Frederick R. Koch Collection. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Manuscript FRKF 584. Autograph full score, of the complete film music. 229 pages.


Publication:

This music has only been published in the arrangements listed below.


Arrangements:

Three Pieces for Organ, extracted directly from the score.

Prelude: Richard III, for orchestra, arranged by Muir Mathieson, 1963. This version has twice been arranged for military band.

Richard III: A Shakespeare Suite, for orchestra, arranged by Muir Mathieson, 1963.

Richard III: A Shakespeare Scenario, for speaker and orchestra, arranged by Christopher Palmer, 1989.

Three Pieces for Oboe and Piano, arranged by Christopher Palmer.
Comprising: 'March', 'Elegy', 'Scherzetto'
Publication: Oxford University Press. Included in Willam Walton: An Oboe Album, 1992, 019 3594102.
            [Purchase online from SheetMusicPlus.com: An Oboe Album]


Recordings:

Apart from the film, this music has only been recorded in the arrangements listed above.


WilliamWalton.netCatalogue of WorksFilm Music