This week I talked a little about the movie "The Great Dictator" by Charles Chaplin (1889 - 1977) here, as the best film I watched during the week, today I wanted to know a little more about the soundtrack, because I recognized the Prelude Lohengrin, opera in three acts that tells the story of Parsival and his son Lohengrin, composed by Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883) who wrote the music and the libretto. This prelude appears in several moments of the film, as in the scene in which the dictator Hynkel plays with an inflatable globe, and at the end of the film, when the barber speaks directly to Hannah.
The main songs of the film besides the Lohengrin Prelude are Johannes Brahms' n5 Hungarian Dance (1833 - 1897) used to illustrate the barber's professional activities, and some incidental music written by Charles Chaplin himself, who often performed the composition of many of their soundtracks. Here we can listen to Chaplin's compositions for this film compiled in a single song, the performance is of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the city of Prague under the regency of Carl Davis.
The Johannes Brahms Hungarian Dances are a set of 21 songs, an animated collection of Hungarian folk songs, with the exception of the n11, 14 and 16 dances that are written by the composer. With about one to five minutes in duration, this is the most popular set of works by Brahms, below we hear the Hungarian Dance n5, a version of the "Bártfai Emlék Csárdás" by Béla Kéler (1820 - 1882).
Charles Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" also served as inspiration for Hans Zimmer (1957), acclaimed soundtrack composer known for writing soundtracks for The Lion King (which also has excerpts from Lohengrin), Kung Fu Panda, and Blade Runner 2049, he wrote this beautiful incidental song for the scene of the barber's speech at the end of the film
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A great hug!
Guilherme Faquetti
February 25, 2018
Works References
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Grande_Ditador
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohengrin_(%C3%B3pera)
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Zimmer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Dances_(Brahms)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9la_K%C3%A9ler
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wagner
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Brahms
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin