Miklós Rózsa - Quo Vadis

Adapting Henryk Sienkiewicz's novel QUO VADIS, producer Sam Zimbalist and director Mervyn LeRoy saw an opportunity to create a great spectacle. To bolster their production, they hired a strong cast, which included Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Peter Ustinov in the sublime role of Nero and Leo Glenn. The story is set in Imperial Rome, where we see a love story unfold between the pagan Marcus and the Christian Lygia. Our lovers are caught up in the tide of history as an increasingly mad Nero finally sets Rome ablaze and falsely accuses Christians of being the perpetrators...
As there was no musical basis dating from ancient Roman times, Miklós Rózsa drew inspiration from ancient Greek sources from which his music later sprang. He also chose to augment the orchestration by inserting instruments from antiquity, which included lyres, zithers, whelks, ethnic drums, sistrums and a whole exotic range of percussion. Given the complexity of the film's spiritual narrative, he also chose to infuse his score with a multiplicity of fine themes, motifs, songs, hymns, choruses, exotic dances as well as imperial fanfares and military marches. In doing so, he achieved a rare and perfect synergy between imagery and music, and turned it into a masterpiece, one of the best scores of the Hollywood Golden Age.