This may come off as a bit morbid, but I really don't intend it to. I know we've all been listening to/posting our favorite Horner cues and scores these past few days, but I was just thinking: this is a man who had scored music—great, tear-jerking, heartwrenching music—for the deaths of countless characters on screen. For such an emotionally resonant composer, I feel like it would maybe bring some level of comfort/solace (at least to me, probably to others here as well) to have a playlist/collection of Horner's musical representations of death and of the heartache and loss that loved ones experience. So, what are some classic, great examples of Horner scoring the death of a character in film?
Another good one is when Rose realizes that Jack is a human Popsicle in Titanic.
Here's another Rose. Rose's Death from Cocoon.
The last 30 seconds of Futile Escape from Aliens is one I've always liked. Gorman activates the grenade when he and Vasquez are cornered in the air shaft and the two embrace the grenade as they know they are about to die. Horner's music builds until the grenade explodes.
This may sound odd but I always found Horner's treatment of death in films to be rather uplifting, if you think of his music to scenes that deal with the death of characters in films.
Just think of Eiplogue from Wrath of Khan, Goodbye and Godspeed (a scene where probably millions die and the astronauts make the ultimate sacrifice) or From Master To Student To Master from The Karate Kid (after we learn about the death of Jackie Chan's wife and child). Of course The Execution from Braveheart is a very mournful cue but just think of how the death of Wallace inspires the Scottish army and how Horner's music conveys that inspiration in Son's of Scotland. Son's of Scotland is a cue I have returned to several times since we had that awful news.
How dare you? After all, it's only four days since... Wait, this is now acceptable, which wasn't the case two days ago, according to some folks, so carry on.
Not so much Death, but Horner had a Grief/Loss idea that he used a few times. I first heard it in UNCOMMON VALOUR (that bit near the beginning as Gene Hackman sees the young ghost of his missing son in the house), then again in ALAMO JOBE (when the kid returns to the Alamo to die) and again again during IN COUNTRY...all three of which remained unreleased on LP or CD for what seemed like eons. I've always loved that music theme/motif of his.
