Raiders of the Lost Ark

Raiders of the Lost Ark is the John Williams score for the 1981 film directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Star Wars creator George Lucas. The movie represented the first installment (though its sequel would eventually render it the second in chronological order) in a series of serial adventures chronicling the exploits of Indiana Jones, an archaeologist, university professor, and seeker of ancient treasures. The score marked the fifth collaboration between Williams and Spielberg.

The composing process
Williams composed roughly 80 minutes of music over a five week period. Williams had some difficulty with writing the film's iconic main theme, first in coming up with the right sound and then in selecting the final candidate from two possible choices. In the end, he enlisted the director's help. "He'd actually written two themes," Spielberg said. "I think my only input was to say, 'Can't you use both?' And he did. He made the latter the bridge, and he made the former the Main Theme."



Recording sessions
The recording sessions took place at Anvil Abbey Road Soundscreen Ltd. Studios at 3 Abbey Road, London, on February 18, 19, 23, and March 2 and 3, 1981, for the London Symphony Orchestra to record the score.

Awards
The score for Raiders of the Lost Ark would go on to win the Grammy Award for Best Original Score, and earned Williams his sixteenth nomination from the Academy Awards (though it didn't win). It also garnered a Best Score nomination from the British Academy Awards.

Primary themes
Raiders features four principal themes identified by John Williams:


 * The Raiders March: The film's main theme is a rousing adventure march, featured most prominently in the film's closing credit sequence. Both elements (the main line and the bridge) make a number of appearances throughout the film, the latter often used as a prelude or dramatic setup for the former, which emerges either as a complete line or in shorter elements as a herald for the movie's protagonist.


 * Marion's Theme: This quieter, more sweeping piece acts as both a romantic elegy and a character motif for Marion. Its appearance on the original soundtrack release ("Marion's Theme") was drawn from the intimate scene aboard Katanga's ship between Indy and Marion. The theme is presented again in full as a bridge during the end title sequence. It would later return as a primary theme for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.


 * The Ark of the Covenant: The mysterious theme for the story's title target is also makes numerous appearances throughout the film, often as a low-key harbinger of the Ark's inherent dangers. It receives its most complete treatment during "The Map Room: Dawn," which executes the full range of the piece from its quietest undertones to its grandest peak. Apart from "The Raiders March," this theme makes the most appearances during the four films of the Indiana Jones franchise (with brief manifestations in both Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull).


 * The Nazis: Though never given a specific title on any cue sheet or soundtrack release, this is motif, represented frequently and in many different aspects during the course of the film, is one of the four themes Williams identified in later interviews as a centerpiece to the score.

Single-scene themes and secondary motifs

 * Peruvian Jungle Theme: The opening scene of the film, set in a jungle deep in Peru, features a four-phrase theme performed on oboe that varies significantly with each iteration (particularly in the first two phrasings). [The most complete presentation of the central line appears at 1:38 (see sample at right).]


 * The Cairo Basket Chase (Theme):


 * Travelogue motif: Indy's journey to Nepal is marked by a red line on a map and the main theme (altered by a slight rhythmic variation) played over a primary palate of two repeating two-note intervals (G-Eb-G-Eb, Ab-Eb-Ab-Eb - see sample at right). The motif breaks into variations as it supports the secondary phrases of the main theme, before returning again to the primary phrasings, played each time in a steady, rolling motion that musically underpins the protagonist's movement around the globe.


 * The Whip motif:

Soundtrack Releases and Cue Lists

 * Raiders of the Lost Ark at Filmmusic Database
 * Raiders of the Lost Ark Cue List at Indiana Jones Music