Incidental music
Incidental music is
music in a
play,
television program,
radio program or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to
film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "
film score" or "soundtrack".
Incidental music is often "background" music, and adds atmosphere to the action. It may also include pieces which will provide the main interest for the audience, for example
overtures, or music played during scene changes. It may also be required in plays which have
musicians performing on-stage.
The use of incidental music dates back at least as far as
Greek drama. A number of
classical composers have written incidental music for various plays, with the more famous examples including
Ludwig van Beethoven's music for
Egmont,
Felix Mendelssohn's music for
A Midsummer Night's Dream and
Edvard Grieg's music for
Henrik Ibsen's
Peer Gynt. Parts of all of these are often performed in concerts outside the context of the play.
More recently, incidental music has been written for
computer games by the likes of
Michael Giacchino (the
Medal of Honor series),
Richard Jacques (
Headhunter),
Jack Wall (
Myst III) and
James Hannigan (
Catwoman). One of the best known incidental music composers for
British television is
Howard Goodall, who wrote music for
The Gathering Storm,
Blackadder and
Red Dwarf as well as the film,
Bean.
The Foresters Web Opera - Score by
Sir Arthur Sullivan for a play by
Lord Alfred Tennyson, with additional music arranged by persons unknown. Available online in an extremely complete state, down to the shortest trumpet fanfare, and thus an extremely useful example of Victorian incidental music.
