Still impacted by the documentary The Music of John Williams, I went back to my favorite soundtracks and playlists (which don’t even have half of what I have on CD) because there’s nothing like maturity to understand the past. I have to confess that when I danced ballet, I didn’t like the music of Prokofiev or Stravinsky, I preferred the “easy melodies” of Tchaikovsky, Adam, Delibes, and Minkus, which – apart from Tchaikovsky – were not symphonic or apparently complex. In opera, the same thing happens: I listened to Puccini and Verdi a thousand times before Wagner. You can curse me, but I ask you to follow me a little longer.

However, many years ago, I changed my opinion of Prokofiev precisely because of my love of cinema, and today I consider his melodies to be among the most beautiful I have ever heard. It was a journey to get here, but yes, over the last century, classical music has shaped the universe of film scores in profound and unexpected ways. Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Prokofiev not only challenged the musical conventions of their time but also inspired directors and composers to create sounds that capture the complexity and intensity of emotions on screen. Some of them bordering on plagiarism, one might argue. From the dissonances that heighten tension to the lyricism that enriches scenes of love or loss, the legacy of these masters echoes in films ranging from great classics to contemporary productions. Here I propose to explore how classical composition has transformed the way we listen to and experience cinema.

Prokofiev paved the way

Let’s remember that cinema was only created in 1895 when the Lumière brothers held the first public screening of a film using music to accompany the images. It took another 35 years for sound to actually enter the narrative, and during that period, music was played live in theaters, on a piano, without specific pieces written for the stories. In other words, we are talking about the 1930s, and during that period, both Prokofiev and Stravinsky were already renowned and respected composers.

In 1938, at the height of World War II, Russian director Sergei Eisenstein filmed and released the epic Alexander Nevsky, a production considered a kind of anti-German propaganda and whose brilliance is so overwhelming that it is one of the most influential films of all time. It tells the story of the eponymous prince who, in 1242, led the Russian army against the invasion of the Teutonic Knights.

Eisenstein invited Prokofiev to compose the soundtrack for Sergei Prokofiev, and his music has also been a major influence on soundtracks ever since. Yes, it is 86 years old and is still modern and has inspired many series and films that we see to this day. His work on Alexander Nevsky is considered one of the first soundtracks to combine music and image in a more integrated way, with themes that serve not only as background music but as an extension of the visual narrative. Prokofiev used clear and memorable themes, but with an orchestral complexity that gave emotional depth, influencing directors and composers to use music to shape drama, tension, and action in narrative ever since. His melodic style and expressive use of the orchestra inspired composers such as Jerry Goldsmith, Patrick Doyle, and James Horner, who incorporated Prokofiev’s dramatic sensibility into heroic themes and moments of introspection in modern soundtracks.

For this and much more, Sergei Prokofiev is undoubtedly one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. As I mentioned before, the composer had a unique talent for creating clear and captivating themes that directly communicated the character of a scene or character, but even more importantly, his melodies were simple and memorable, something that is essential for film scores. A clear example is his Peter and the Wolf, where each character is represented by a specific theme and instrument, in a very visual and almost cinematic way. Many composers cite this piece as one of the most important in their studies.

In film scores, melodic clarity helps the audience associate certain themes with specific characters or emotions, a technique that film composers such as John Williams and James Horner often use.

Another quality worth highlighting is that Prokofiev was a master at creating dramatic tension through music. In the ballet Romeo and Juliet, he captured the conflict and emotional intensity of the characters with orchestrations that oscillate between delicate and violent moments. And even there, his music is highly visual and capable of evoking strong emotions, something that lends itself perfectly to cinema. This ability to create such impactful emotional moments was one of the reasons for his success only in film scores, such as that of Alexander Nevsky, where the music amplifies the visual narrative and makes it even more powerful.

One of his innovations was also through rich and varied orchestration, using timbres and combinations of instruments in unique ways. He used the weight of the full orchestra to create grandeur and impact, but he also knew how to explore more intimate and melancholic moments. His ability to balance intensity and subtlety allowed him to shape entire scenes with music alone.

Film composers learned from him how to use the orchestra to accentuate the action and emotions of films. Jerry Goldsmith, for example, used similar orchestral ideas in scores such as Planet of the Apes and Alien, where the music creates both an emotional atmosphere and an almost physical tension.

Prokofiev is also known for his expressive use of rhythm. He often used strong, pulsating, and irregular rhythms, which gave a sense of energy and constant movement to his music. In works such as the Piano Concerto No. 3 and the Classical Symphony, he explored this rhythmic vivacity, keeping the music engaging and full of “urgency.”

This rhythmic energy is especially useful in action and adventure films, where the music must accompany fast-paced scenes. Prokofiev’s ability to create lively rhythms served as a model for intense and energetic scores.

We cannot forget another brilliant aspect of Prokofiev’s work is his use of humor and irony in his compositions. He often played with themes and musical styles, introducing a lightness and a sarcastic touch to his music. This side of his musical personality is evident in pieces such as the Classical Symphony, where he pays ironic homage to the classical style of Haydn, but with a modern orchestration full of surprises.

This sense of humor and irony has been used in film to create scores that go beyond simple accompaniment and add layers of complexity to characters and scenes. Composers such as Danny Elfman, who often creates eccentric scores, are clearly influenced by this quality of Prokofiev.

The Russian cultural roots transcended borders because Prokofiev was also adept at incorporating elements of Russian folk and popular music into his compositions, which gave a sense of authenticity and familiarity. This is especially notable in Alexander Nevsky, where he uses folk themes to give the score a sense of cultural heritage and patriotism.

This approach of using cultural and folk themes to evoke the setting or context of a story has been replicated by many film composers. For example, Ennio Morricone used folk and traditional themes to evoke specific landscapes in Western films, and Patrick Doyle, mirroring Nevsky’s inspiration in directing Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V, combines Russian technique with quintessentially British melodies and themes.

Yes, Alexander Nevsky’s score was indeed a landmark in film music. Not only because it was innovative, but because Prokofiev wrote the score in close collaboration with Eisenstein, and together they created a work in which music is not just a backdrop, but a narrative force. This model directly influenced the way film scores began to be seen and worked on, and it still works that way today.

With The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky changed everything

I always associate modernity with Stravinsky’s sound, rarely being able to understand him and often not being able to hum a single piece of his music. I exaggerate, I can sing some of them, even if only a few.

When the premiere of the ballet The Rite of Spring caused so much controversy in 1913, the ‘failure’ was attributed to the choreographer, Vaslav Nijinsky, but many dancers considered that the score could never be translated into dance in the first place. Critics look at the music with a fascination for introducing intense dissonances, complex rhythms, and a bold exploration of orchestration 111 years ago that is still copied today.

This vigorous and unexpected style has also inspired film scores that seek to create emotional impact and dramatic intensity. Bernard Herrmann, in Psycho, and John Williams in Jaws (to cite only one title for each) adopted these elements to create powerful and suspenseful moments in their scores, drawing inspiration from Stravinsky’s rhythmic freedom and dissonant chords for scenes of action, horror, and mystery.

Speaking of film scores, Stravinsky pioneered the idea of ​​creating “autonomous” music, with self-sufficient musical movements, which encouraged film composers to use specific themes to represent characters or emotions independently of the direct narrative. The brilliance of The Rite of Spring lies in its innovative, bold, and disruptive approach to classical music. Stravinsky sought to break the norms of traditional rhythm by introducing unstable time signatures and meters, often switching between tempos and time signatures in unexpected ways. The piece is marked by intense and complex rhythmic pulses, especially in the use of ostinatos (repetitive rhythmic patterns) that create a sense of brutality and primitivism. This innovative use of irregular rhythms created a visceral energy that evoked a sense of ancient and savage ritual, which was the central theme of the piece. Williams used this concept in both Star Wars and Jaws, for example.

The Russian composer also used extremely dissonant harmonies and note clusters to create an almost palpable tension, a rare characteristic of his time. These dissonances were not only “uncomfortable”, but also created a unique emotional intensity, associated with conflict and estrangement. Instead of resolving the dissonances into consonances, as was common, Stravinsky maintained or intensified them, causing shock and surprise in the audience.

The Rite of Spring also requires a large orchestra and makes creative use of instruments, exploring unusual registers, extended techniques, and instrumental combinations that produce new timbres. For example, he used the combination of wind instruments and percussion to create raw and organic sounds, evoking images of a prehistoric and ritualistic world.

Since the piece depicts an ancient pagan ritual of sacrifice to spring, where a young woman is chosen to dance to death, Stravinsky used simple, fragmented, and repetitive melodies, which seem almost “primitive”, to represent the ritual and the connection with nature and the gods. These melodies do not follow Western conventions of development but rather flow closer to Russian and Slavic folk music, which reinforces the feeling of ancestry.

This was precisely what prevented me for so many years from “understanding” the brilliance of the work. Unlike Romantic music, which followed a clear narrative progression, The Rite of Spring does not offer a conventional musical narrative with a “resolution.” Instead, the music feels like a series of sonic blocks, where themes and rhythms repeat and intertwine, more concerned with evoking emotional states than telling a linear story. This created a more “circular” and almost ritualistic structure, where the musical development is not predictable, but cyclical and pulsating.

Unsurprisingly, at the premiere in Paris, the audience reacted with shock and even violence. The combination of aggressive music and Nijinsky’s disruptive choreography, which featured abrupt and unnatural movements, was so provocative that it generated boos, fights, and heated debates. This instant cultural impact marked The Rite of Spring as a revolutionary work that not only broke the norms of the time but redefined what music could express. Oh yes, it also marks a breakthrough in modern dance.

All of these elements combined have profoundly influenced film music composers. Their rhythmic intensity and innovative orchestration inspired scores for action and thriller films, while their non-linear, exploratory narrative helped establish a new form of composition, where music serves to build a psychological or emotional mood rather than follow a predictable structure.

By exploring bold harmonies and powerful rhythms, and by defying the rules and using music to create images, Stravinsky and Prokofiev transformed 20th-century music and, by extension, film scoring. Their influence transcends time, inspiring modern composers to value emotional complexity and narrative in their works. Stravinsky and Prokofiev’s legacy in film music is a testament to how classical composition can immortalize scenes and amplify visual impact and remains relevant and influential to this day.

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