Pride and Prejudice: A love letter to Carl Davis' sublime score for the 1995 TV series
The small-screen adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel - and Colin Firth's iconic Mr Darcy - is now 28 years old
The 1995 TV adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is widely regarded as the 'proper' version amongst Austenites. Starring Jennifer Ehle as the confident and clever Elizabeth Bennett, with Colin Firth as the dark and brooding Mr. Darcy, the six-part series is still plenty beloved today.
On 3rd August 2023, the sad news was announced that BAFTA-winning composer and conductor Carl Davis - the genius behind the TV adaptation's incredible score - had passed away, at the age of 86. Join us as we re-visit his sublime work, which brought the 1995 screening to life.
Although the series is 28-years-old as of 2023, old and new fans alike can find something or someone to relate to in the timeless adaptation - and, since it's been added to Netflix, it has no doubt been rewatched many times over throughout the past couple of years.
The painstaking detail that producers went to in order to recreate the 1800's is evident, and the actors impeccably represented their characters - from the aforementioned Jennifer and Colin, through to Anna Chancellor's snide Caroline Bingley, Julia Sawalha's giddy Lydia and Alison Steadman's flighty Mrs. Bennett (undoubtedly a practise run for her turn as Pam Shipman in Gavin and Stacey).
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But the cherry on top of the perfect cake surely came in the form of Carl Davis' utterly sublime score. The opening theme, named 'Meet The Family', is enduring and comfortably familiar, still instantly recognisable a quarter of a century after it first aired.
Hearing this piece for the first time, perhaps on a first watch of the series, could lead to many frantically Googling which Mozart or Haydn piece the BBC crew were able to land for the opening theme. Most of us would never know that it was written specifically for the show - it sounds almost too good to be true, as if it is an established, 100-year-old piece that producers stumbled across accidentally and knew would fit.
It's a musical creation full of poise, with an unfussy air of elegance about it, perfectly representing the way people wanted to be seen in those days - but the cheeky brass accidental at the beginning of each phrase reflects the Bennett family's whimsical personalities.
Of course, there's a minor version of the theme later on for those moments when Lydia or Mrs. Bennett embarrass Lizzie, or when she discovers the truth about that dastardly Wickham - or when Darcy is racing across the fields on his horse to do some secretive good deed.
There's a subtle modulation and slowing down of the theme as it goes on, becoming more stately, perhaps a nod to the Bingley sisters and their snooty demeanours - but this doesn't last long before those cheeky brass instruments burst back in with the original theme.
Pride and Prejudice 1995 TV series opening theme: 'Meet the Family' by Carl Davis
We then turn to the second piece in the suite - 'Pride and Prejudice Suite: II. Canon Collins and Lady Catherine de Bourgh'. This piece is much more refined and stately than the slightly wild Bennett motif - but this should be expected for a piece about Lady Catherine de Bourgh and her sycophantic servant, Mr. Collins. It's still, of course, a lovely piece of music to listen to, but there's an air of plummy pomposity that won't be ignored - much like Mr. Collins himself.
There's a sudden, severe section with quivering strings, reflecting Lady Catherine's self-righteous entitlement and her deep disapproval of Lizzie and her family, as well as Mr. Collins' obvious fear of her - it's like you can hear his knees knocking together. The piece softens towards the end, returning to the main theme - but somewhat sheepishly, as if Mr. Collins has come out from his hiding place after the storm of Lady Catherine's fury.
Pride and Prejudice Suite: II. 'Canon Collins and Lady Catherine de Bourgh'
The third piece in the movement, named for our two leads, is a reworking of the original Bennett family theme - but this version is more guarded and reticent, much like Lizzie's attitude towards Darcy. It begins with a beautiful string solo, before the orchestra joins in the background, and then there's another string playing simultaneously but an octave lower - as if Lizzie and Darcy have finally found their way to each other.
This piece is so beautiful and romantic, so it makes sense that it was partly used to soundtrack Lizzie and Darcy's walk towards the end of the final episode, where they reveal their true feelings to each other... "Dearest, loveliest Elizabeth." Swoon.
A piano solo comes through towards the middle of the piece, possibly to harken back to Lizzie's playing which she regards to be nothing special, but Darcy is quite taken with. The music swells back up to great, almost intimidating heights - like Darcy himself, but is soon pierced by a playful piccolo, which could be Lizzie's good-natured jibes bringing him back down to earth.
The piece then transforms back into the original theme - but slower, and less frantic, showing how Lizzie and Darcy even each other out in the most wonderful way.
Carl Davis, 'Elizabeth & Darcy' (Pride & Prejudice), Heroines in Music
Carl mused about composing the theme in an interview for 2018 book Music and Sound in Silent Film by Ruth Barton and Simon Trezise, discussing how he'd begun to compose it.
"What you’re doing is mimicking," he explained. "Quite simply. It’s a funny mind game I play. If we take Pride and Prejudice as a subject for discussion, I didn’t get a BAFTA nomination for it, because the little group of composers who are the judges thought it sounded too much like the real thing.
"I thought that was interesting, because it doesn’t directly quote from Haydn or Mozart, but I wanted it to sound as if it were by them."
Carl added that he'd delved a little deeper into the novel in order to find the perfect composition, "I had to ask myself, ‘What’s the theme of Pride and Prejudice?’ We know that Jane Austen’s principal theme in most of her novels is the dialogue between heart and mind: as a woman, do you marry for love or do you marry to gain your life, so to speak?
"So, there would be two themes, a fast theme and a sustained one. How would I find them? Possibly in any sonata movement, where you find the two principal theme, subsidiary theme, so I could have gone stalking my way through endless piano sonatas of Haydn or Mozart. How delightful!
"The novel’s at that interesting phase around the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. So all these things are going through my mind as I sit down with a blank piece of paper."
Carl was clearly long-satisfied with his handiwork, even picking it back up throughout the 2020 lockdown in April to rework the piece and write a new variation.