By Dr. Bruce Smith ——Bio and Archives--March 29, 2023
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Dimitri Tiomkin was born in Tsarist Russia in 1894. He trained in classical music in St. Petersburg before the revolution, then moved to Berlin in the 1920s. Shortly thereafter, he moved to the United States and then to Hollywood after the crash of 1929. Director Frank Capra asked him to write the score for the film Lost Horizon in 1937. This was his big break into composing for movies.
Doing justice to Dimitri Tiomkin’s music in just one column would be impossible, so this time I will mention and list a few of his works. Some of them you will find familiar, but others may be new to you. We know him best from film scores from the 1940s through the 1960s.
With film scores we have the film to reinforce the music. Once we see the film and hear the music, it is often difficult to separate them again. This, of course, is part of the genius of the composer, because he knows the film or the screenplay before writing the music. I like to think that even without seeing the films, this music will inspire you as it does me.
Tiomkin excelled at creating music to match great movie performances. Here are just a few of my own favorites.
This is Pax Romana, from The Fall of the Roman Empire.
Feel yourself at high altitude with this theme from The High and the Mighty.
High Noon started poorly at the box office, then gained classic status a bit later. Tiomkin wrote this somber theme for it, sung by Tex Ritter for the movie. It was a chart hit for Frankie Laine, too.
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Here is Tiomkin at his emotional best. It’s the theme from The Alamo, sung by the Brothers Four. It gives me a lump in my throat every time.
This link will treat you to many other Tiomkin movie themes.
Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington wrote the Rawhide theme
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Dr. Bruce Smith (Inkwell, Hearth and Plow) is a retired professor of history and a lifelong observer of politics and world events. He holds degrees from Indiana University and the University of Notre Dame. In addition to writing, he works as a caretaker and handyman. His non-fiction book The War Comes to Plum Street, about daily life in the 1930s and during World War II, may be ordered from Indiana University Press.