Question of the Week: 10/11-10/17/21

In your opinion, what’s the best movie score from a Civil War movie?



23 Responses to Question of the Week: 10/11-10/17/21

  1. I’ll give you my top three, as I can’t ever decide which is my favorite!

    1. Cold Mountain
    2. Gettysburg
    3. Glory

  2. Horse Soldiers,Lincoln and Glory for the art direction and visuals…opening scene on the field with what seems like tens of thousands in Glory is the best..

  3. OK not a movie: Ken Burns’ PBS The Civil War. “Ashokan Farewell” the only modern day song (1982) in the series, played with Sullivan Ballou’s letter to his wife is indelible.

  4. Again, not a movie, but The Civil War’s “Ashokan Farewell” is so moving and beautiful. In 1991, I was fortunate enough to hear it live in concert with Jay Ungar (who wrote it) and Fiddle Fever.

  5. The Main Title from the film “Gettysburg” by composer Randy Edelman. It is stirring beyond measure.

  6. _Glory_, because it has made me cry and stirs my emotions. I’m not the most lachrymose individual, so any movie that makes me shed tears becomes one of the greatest in my estimation.

  7. “Glory”, even though the music during the assault on Fort Wagner is a blatant rip-off of Orff’s “Carmina Burana”.

    Honorable mention that hasn’t been mentioned yet: “Gods and Generals”. It’s terribly misused in the movie, but I do love the score itself.

  8. “Lorena” from the 1959 movie “The Horse Soldiers.” The opening theme of “I Left My Love” is good, but Lorena is melancholy and almost haunting.

    I suggest that “Shenandoah” not be overlooked. It has been in a number of movies, including, I think, “How the West was Won” (1962) and, of course, “Shenandoah” (1965).

    I love Ashokan Farewell, especially as played by Mairead Nesbitt of Celtic Women, but I don’t think it could be considered a movie theme.

  9. If we’re talking about music from the period used in Civil War movie scores, I think it’s hard to top the use of Idumea from the Sacred Harp in the Crater scene of “Cold Mountain”.

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