Pride and Prejudice: Music as Beautiful as the Love Story it Accompanies

Pride and Prejudice- a wonderfully loving, witty, and dramatic tale of family and love. Written by Jane Austen in 1813, it is one of the most well known love stories of all time. This film, made in 2005, did the story justice with its amazing cast, fantastic scenery and costumes, and of course it's gorgeously composed, Academy Award winning soundtrack. 

We open the movie with beautiful scenery, beautiful music, and an even more beautiful Elizabeth Bennet (Kiera Knightly) walking through a meadow in her mud tattered dress and boots, reading a novel lit by the sunrise. "Dawn," the opening song plays as she walks to her family's house, she listens in on whats happening with the Bennets that day. Composed by Oscar Winner Dario Marianelli and performed by Jean-Yves Thibaudet (piano) and the English Chamber Orchestra, this amazingly cohesive soundtrack is so beautifully moving that you could listen to it straight through  and be touched just as much as when watching the movie. 

Perhaps the most riveting and dramatic feelings happen later, as "Darcy's Letter" plays when Elizabeth is running through the rain after church and is met at a stone column by the one she loathes most in that moment, Mr. Darcy. The intensity of the building music matches the feeling in that moment perfectly; when she is surprised by Darcy, it fades off... and later we watch as Mr. Darcy drops off the letter he wrote for Elizabeth at her cousins home. The rest of the song resumes when she opens it- this time with a much softer, saddened tone as she reads his explanation to all of the things that made her hate him. We can't help but feel how devastated and guilty she feels for misjudging him.

Finally, the most beautiful and climactic scene is accompanied by "Liz on top of the world." Its early morning, a sleep deprived Elizabeth is standing in a field, contemplating the events of the night before when she looks up to see Mr. Darcy, the love of her life, coming toward her through the fog of the sunrise. Just as she realizes its him, a gorgeous piano crescendo emerges, confirming his determined commitment to her. The crescendo dissipates as he reaches Elizabeth, nervous but determined to confirm his love for her. The composition of the piano perfectly mimics their mutual emotional resolution.