Pride & Prejudice (soundtrack)

The relationship between Italian composer Dario Marianelli and movie director Joe Wright began when Paul Webster, who had worked with Marianelli on the 2001 film The Warrior, introduced him to Wright. In their first conversation, Marianelli and Wright discussed the early piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven, which "became a point of reference" and "starting point" for the original score.[3] In addition to Beethoven, pieces such as "Meryton Townhall" and "The Militia Marches In" (featuring the flute) were inspired by the film's period,[4] with the intention that they could conceivably have been heard during that time. "Meryton Townhall" and "Another Dance" contained actual dance cues that were fitting for the late eighteenth century. According to music critic William Ruhlmann, Marianelli's score had a "strong Romantic flavour to accompany the familiar romantic plot".[5]

Multiple scenes feature actors playing pianos, forcing Marianelli to complete several of the pieces before filming began. According to him, "Those pieces already contained the seeds of what I developed later on into the score, when I abandoned historical correctness for a more intimate and emotional treatment of the story".[3] Marianelli was not present when the actors played his music due to the birth of his second daughter.[3] The soundtrack featured French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, whom Wright considered one of the greatest piano players in the world.[6] Thibaudet was accompanied by the English Chamber Orchestra. The soundtrack ultimately contained seventeen instrumental tracks of music organised in a different way from the film.[4]

It was the first of four collaborations between Marianelli and Wright.