Masterpiece Theatre Closing Theme Music

The closing theme music of the PBS TV show "Masterpiece Theatre." This audio is "Rondeau" composed by French composer Jean-Joseph Mouret (1682-1738).


The following information is from the Masterpiece Theatre website: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/series/music.html (accessed December 20, 2009) :

This now instantly recognizable music was originally written for the court of Louis XV, King of France. The blood-stirring piece by composer Jean-Joseph Mouret (1682-1738), is the first movement of Mouret's "First Suite in D," from his second book of Fanfares for Trumpets, Kettledrums, Violins and Oboes (published in Paris, ca. 1729). (The movement is in rondeau form; it is also known as Mouret's "Rondeau" and as the "Theme from Masterpiece Theatre.")

"In 1962 my future wife and I went to one of the Club Med villages in Italy. We were in these little straw huts and every morning we were summoned to breakfast by that theme. It was just magic ... I wanted to use it for Masterpiece Theatre but there was no way I could bear to put a French piece of music on something that was supposed to be English. I went through all kinds of English composers and nothing worked. So, it became the theme. The nice little twist on that is that about five years ago someone from the New York Times went to a Club Med in Mexico and commented on what a classy joint it was because they used the music of Masterpiece Theatre to summon people to meals... " --Christopher Sarson, founding father of Masterpiece Theatre and its executive producer from 1970 to 1973.
From Masterpiece Theatre: A Celebration of 25 Years
(Courtesy Bay Books, San Francisco, 1999).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Kettledrums
• PBS
• Masterpiece
• Theatre
• theater
• fanfare
• Rondeau

[4450630]

hey can you tell where I can get this on my ipod or download it. thanx

[CapCrunch45]

@4450630 Do a Google search for "listen to youtube" The website will be located on the very first Google search result. On that website, you can copy the URL of the video you want to extract audio and paste unto the website. The website will extract the audio and allow you to download it unto your computer. I hope it works for you. If not, please let me know.

[4450630]

@CapCrunch45 heyy thank you so much for the pointers it worked!:) keep uploading great vids.. x

[CapCrunch45]

@4450630 You're very welcome! :)

[CapCrunch45]

Thank you very much for rating five stars on this video! I hope you all will all do the same.

[sbasx1]

Alastair Cooke, BBC, once said that the title of this piece was "A Fanfare for the King's Breakfast." Who wouldn't want to start their day with a fanfare?

[59cdv]

IMHO, this is the finest version of the Masterpiece Theatre theme. Why the BBC felt the need to chop up and hack this signature music used their flagship series utterly escapes me. Too many notes?