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Episode 15 - “D-Day”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2024

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Summary

EP15 chronicles the Allies’ long-awaited June 1944 invasion of France on the Normandy coast, encompassing the preceding buildup and then aftermath as the invaders moved inland. Though Rodgers's SONG-SEAS and DEATH-DEBRIS themes appear briefly, EP15 stands apart from other Victory episodes for Bennett's extensive and near-exclusive use of Rodgers's new D-DAY theme, especially between 3:42 and 16:18. EP15, with its study “plugging” of a lone Rodgers theme, has a kind of thematic unity uncommon in Victory, and might be what Henry Salomon had hoped for in his original conception of the series, or expected from his musical collaborators: Bennett putting a new Rodgers tune through its paces in each episode.

The program begins with Allied landing craft hitting the Normandy beaches on 6 June 1944, where invading soldiers under fire immediately take casualties. This is, however, merely a prologue to establish EP15's subject and scope, as there's a quick segue at 1:45 back to the Allies’ preliminary January 1943 planning conference at Casablanca, fundamentally a conversation among Roosevelt, Churchill, and their military advisors. 1942's Operation Torch (EP9) had yielded a solid Allied foothold in North Africa, and the conference led to the “unconditional surrender” policy and agreement that the Sicily-Italy campaign would precede the all-out assault in France, delayed to 1944. We see General Eisenhower in London at 2:17, during the winter of 1943–44, leading staff discussions upon assuming his role as Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force.

Bennett's music opens EP15 [A] by previewing the tempo and four-note ostinato bass line of Rodgers's D-DAY—with his own composing above—while holding off the Rodgers tune's actual appearance. Before invasion preparations are detailed, a somber E-flat minor chord at 2:30 (see EP3) and GER underscore reminders of Hitler's formidable Atlantic Wall of defenses on France's coast awaiting the Allies. The all-high-register music at 3:30 [B], as Allied planes exploit their air superiority along France's coast, is reminiscent of Bennett's EP1 writing for the Luftwaffe.

Commencing at 3:42 is a twelve-plus-minute sequence duplicated nowhere in Victory. Bennett notates and labels his elaborations on Rodgers's D-DAY theme as a Theme with Nine Variations, lasting through 16:18.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Music for Victory at Sea
Richard Rodgers, Robert Russell Bennett, and the Making of a TV Masterpiece
, pp. 241 - 249
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2023

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  • “D-Day”
  • George J. Ferencz
  • Book: The Music for <i>Victory at Sea</i>
  • Online publication: 10 January 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781800109575.028
Available formats
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  • “D-Day”
  • George J. Ferencz
  • Book: The Music for <i>Victory at Sea</i>
  • Online publication: 10 January 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781800109575.028
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • “D-Day”
  • George J. Ferencz
  • Book: The Music for <i>Victory at Sea</i>
  • Online publication: 10 January 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781800109575.028
Available formats
×