Titus is the original soundtrack to the 1999motion pictureTitus. Elliot Goldenthal wrote the score for the film, an adaptation of Shakespeare's first tragedy Titus Andronicus; written and directed by Julie Taymor, Goldenthal's long-time friend and partner; it is extremely experimental, like all of his other work, and the first piece "Victorius Titus" is reminiscent of The Imperial March by John Williams in its imposing, martial nature, and (unlike imperial march) in addition uses an archaic male choir chanting in Latin. It complements Taymor's unique and off-beat adaptation of the Shakespeare play. The score, according to Goldenthal himself, sums up his film scoring career up to that point; "This score is a culmination of my style. It sums up the type of work I've been doing for the past ten years."[1] Below is an explanation of the composers' motives behind the score taken from the liner notes: "O cruel, irreligious piety!" "With this oxymoron -- the Goth Queen Tamora's plea to spare her son from being sacrificed at the hands of the Andronici -- Shakespeare starts the engine that drives the play -- the engine that drives my music. It is fueled by the combustion of opposites: vengeance and forgiveness, purity and defilement, the grotesque and the sublime. But there is another byproduct -- for this lamentable tale of woe oddly yields a great deal of irony and humor. In perhaps one of Shakespeare's most absurdist moments (Act III, scene i), the two heads of Titus' wrongly accused sons, and the General's own severed hand, are cruelly returned to him outside his home. At this nightmarish presentation, Titus inexplicably breaks into laughter. He then commands his handless daughter, Lavinia, to take up his severed hand between her teeth and enter the house. Performance after performance, production after production, audiences nervously laugh at this scene, thus falling into Shakespeare's ingenious trap: the playwright has devilishly induced the audience into a similar state to Titus' -- involuntarily laughing at the horror. Such unexpected juxtapositions forced me to find unexpected musical solutions. But let me take you back to the beginning. Almost one year prior to the commencement of principal photography on Titus, I was encouraged by Julie Taymor and scenic designer Dante Ferretti to accompany them on location scouting in Rome. On day one, glancing at the Palatine Hills from a 1998 Fiat, we saw the great Circus Maximus with the ruins of privileged patricians' villas perched overhead, and I heard in my mind's ear an archetypal ancient percussion ensemble. In that same moment another car pulled up alongside ours, equipped with sub woofer -- with the pentameters and hexameters of hip-hop blasting through every window. The music cross-faded as I watched a group of Andean pan flute players in native Bolivian garb hawking their tapes and playing their music which was almost drowned out by an Elvis impersonator with a cheap Karaoke setup -- replete with cheesy reverb -- singing "Jail House Rock" in Neopolitan dialect... well, you get the idea. My mind was put at ease: in Rome -- as in this film -- it is possible in an instant to embrace eons." - Elliot Goldenthal
The original score for the 2007 film 300, composed by Tyler Bates has become the subject of much criticism regarding the somewhat liberal use of other composers orchestrations (at times note for note) including pieces from Goldenthal's Titus score; in particular "Victorius Titus" and "Finale". Another composer said to have been heavily borrowed from was Hans Zimmer.[2][3]Warner Bros. Records released a statement clarifying the matter with regards to the similarities to Goldenthals work: "a number of the music cues for the score of "300" were, without our knowledge or participation, derived from music composed by Academy Award winning composer Elliot Goldenthal for the motion picture "Titus." Warner Bros. Pictures has great respect for Elliot, our longtime collaborator, and is pleased to have amicably resolved this matter."[4]
