The Ten Commandments (1956): "Prelude" by Elmer Bernstein

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The Ten Commandments (1956)
Soundtrack: "Prelude"
Composer: Elmer Bernstein
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Stars: Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner and Anne Baxter
Awards: Won Oscar. Another 3 wins & 7 nominations
Genres: Adventure | Drama | History
Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 3 December 1956
Runtime: 220 min
Budget: $13,500,000 (estimated)
Gross: $80,000,000 (USA)
Production Co: Motion Picture Associates, Paramount Pictures

Storyline
To escape the edict of Egypt's Pharoah, Rameses I, condemning all newborn Hebrew males, the infant Moses is set adrift on the Nile in a reed basket. Saved by the pharaoh's daughter Bithiah, he is adopted by her and brought up in the court of her brother, Pharaoh Seti. Moses gains Seti's favor and the love of the throne princess Nefertiri, as well as the hatred of Seti's son, Rameses. When his Hebrew heritage is revealed, Moses is cast out of Egypt, and makes his way across the desert where he marries, has a son and is commanded by God to return to Egypt to free the Hebrews from slavery. In Egypt Moses's fiercest enemy proves to be not Rameses, but someone near to him who can 'harden his heart'. Written by Ron Kerrigan

Elmer Bernstein

Elmer Bernstein (April 4, 1922 -- August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career which spanned fifty years, he composed music for hundreds of film and television productions. His most popular works include the scores to The Magnificent Seven, The Ten Commandments, The Great Escape, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Ghostbusters. Bernstein won an Oscar for his score to "Thoroughly Modern Millie" (1967) and was nominated for fourteen Oscars in total. He also won two Golden Globes and was nominated for two Grammy Awards. Bernstein wrote the theme songs or other music for more than 200 films and TV shows, including The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, The Ten Commandments (1956), The Man with the Golden Arm, To Kill a Mockingbird, Robot Monster, and the fanfare used in the National Geographic television specials. His theme for The Magnificent Seven is also familiar to television viewers, as it was used in commercials for Marlboro cigarettes. Bernstein also provided the score to many of the short films of Ray and Charles Eames.

Awards

Over the course of his career, Bernstein won an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. In addition, he was nominated for the Tony Award three times and a Grammy Award five times. He received 14 Academy Award nominations and was nominated at least once per decade from the 1950s until the 2000s, but his only win was for Thoroughly Modern Millie for Best Original Music Score. Bernstein was recognized by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association with Golden Globes for his scores for To Kill a Mockingbird and Hawaii. In 1963, he won the Emmy for Excellence in Television for his score of the documentary The Making of The President 1960. He is the recipient of Western Heritage Awards for The Magnificent Seven (1960) and The Hallelujah Trail (1965). He received five Grammy Award nominations from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and garnered two Tony Award nominations for the Broadway musicals How Now Dow Jones and Merlin. Additional honors included Lifetime achievement awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), The Society for the Preservation of Film Music, the USA, Woodstock, Santa Barbara, Newport Beach and Flanders International Film Festivals and the Foundation for a Creative America. In 1996, Bernstein was honored with a star on Hollywood Boulevard.In 1999, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Five Towns College in New York and was honored by the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Bernstein again was honored by ASCAP with its marquee Founders Award in 2001 and with the NARAS Governors Award in June 2004. His scores for The Magnificent Seven and To Kill a Mockingbird were ranked by the American Film Institute as the eighth and seventeenth greatest American film scores of all time, respectively, on the list of AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores. Bernstein, Bernard Herrmann, Max Steiner, and Jerry Goldsmith are the only composers to have two scores listed, and are therefore in second place for the most scores on the list, behind John Williams, who has three. Other Bernstein scores for the following the films were nominated for the list: The Age of Innocence (1993) Far from Heaven (2002) The Great Escape (1963) Hawaii (1966) The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) Summer and Smoke (1961) Sweet Smell of Success (1957) The Ten Commandments (1956) Walk on the Wild Side (1962)

Bernstein died of cancer in his sleep at his home in Ojai, California, on August 18, 2004

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[PT007able]

Without a doubt - one of the best movies ever produced - only Ben Hur stands beside this.... thank you for uploading this magnificent piece

[MSoundtracks]

@PT007able

Thank you :)

[Pahiirm]

love it .. thumbs up and FAVorited!

[MSoundtracks]

@Pahiirm

Thanks :D

[benhurfanclub]

imo, the soundtracks to TTC and Ben Hur are some of the finest classical pieces ever written.

[myfavoritegroovy]

Wow! I so enjoyed your video! Excellent post with great information! Wonderful! :-)

[mattmason77]

Thank you!

[spacepatrolman]

@PT007able Richard L. Barre in his book the film director [ he directed the twilight zone] said the 10 commandmendts and ben hur both told a similar story but ben hur engaged the audiance more elmer benstein said that demille always wanted a heroic theme for the heroe and he didnt agree with that the ten commandmendt was one of the few film scores issued on 45 [ the pillar of fire was the flip side ] there was a list of movie 45s in myspace but the clubs are off