The Soundtrack of MOONRISE KINGDOM

. . . has been dug out by my student assistant Jacob Stubbs. Let me know what you think. Three Hank Williams tunes! And I’ve been misunderstanding that Indian’s name for years. I know little about Benjamin Britten, but 20 minutes of googling taught me that he’s quite the complicated and brilliant composer and personality, who, like the movie, is all about lost innocence. So anyone who knows anything about his work below is welcome to give an interpretation.

• Benjamin Britten:
o Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra:
? Theme A: Allegro Maestoso (full orchestra)
? Theme B: (Woodwinds)
? Theme C: (Brass)
? Theme D: (Strings)
? Theme E: (Percussion)
? Theme F: (Full Orchestra)
o Noye’s Fludde:
? Noye, Noye, Take Thou Thy Company
? The Spacious Firmament on High
? Noye, Take They Wife Anone
o A Midsummer Night’s Dream
? Act 2, “On the Ground, Sleep Sound”
o Songs From Friday Afternoons:
? Old Abraham Brown
? Cuckoo!

• Hank Williams:
o Kaw-Liga
o Long Gone Lonesome Blues
o Ramblin’ Man

• Camille St. Saens:
o The Carnival of Animals: Voliere

• Francoise Hardy:
o Le temps de l’amour

• Franz Schubert:
o An Die Musik vom “Comme Une Image”

• Alexander Desplat—The Heroic Weather-Conditions of the Universe (a suite mirroring Britten’s _Young Person’s Guide_ that was written for the movie).

Here’s a link to a youtube video collection: http://www.youtube.com/user/HaloFSky/videos?query=Moonrise+Kingdom
Here’s a link to another quick article with the same list as above: http://pitchfork.com/news/46377-wes-andersons-moonrise-kingdom-soundtrack-check-out-the-tracklist-and-a-piece-of-the-score/

The St. Saens is another piece that’s used a lot to educate children in classical music (I learned the Swan when I was younger). The Desplat seems to follow the narration of introducing various instruments to the mix, much like the Britten.

The Britten _Noye’s Fludde_ is an allegorized opera version of Noah’s Flood. A synopsis can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noye%27s_Fludde