Lavish musical soundtracks contributed a special grandeur to the new widescreen, stereophonic sound movie experience of postwar biblical epics such as Samson and Delilah, Ben-Hur, and Quo Vadis. In Epic Sound, Stephen C. Meyer shows how music was utilized for various effects, sometimes serving as a vehicle for narrative plot and at times complicating biblical and cinematic interpretation. In this way, the soundscapes of these films reflected the ideological and aesthetic tensions within the genre, and more generally, within postwar American society. By examining key biblical films, Meyer adeptly engages musicology with film studies to explore cinematic interpretations of the Bible during the 1940s through the 1960s.

Stephen C. Meyer is Associate Professor in the Department of Art and Music Histories at Syracuse University. He is author of Carl Maria von Weber and the Search for a German Opera (IUP, 2003).

AcknowledgementsNote to ReadersIntroduction1. A Biblical Story, for the Post-World-War II Generation?: Victor Young's Music for DeMille's Samson and Delilah2. Turning Away from "Concocted Spectacle": Alfred Newman's Score for David and Bathsheba3. Spectacle and Authenticity in Miklós Rózsa's Quo Vadis Score4. Novel and Film, Music and Miracle: Alfred Newman's Score to The Robe5. Spirit and Empire: Elmer Bernstein's Score to The Ten Commandments6. The Law of Genre and the Music for Ben-Hur7. King of Kings and the Problem of Repetition8. Suoni nuovi, suoni antichi: The Soundscapes of Barabbas9. Universality, Transcendence, and Collapse: Music and The Greatest Story Ever ToldEpilogueNotesBibliographyIndex