Lara 's Theme - wikipedia Lara 's Theme `` Somewhere My Love '' redirects here. For the Connie Francis album, see Somewhere, My Love. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( September 2010 ) `` Lara 's Theme '' is the name given to a leitmotif written for the film Doctor Zhivago ( 1965 ) by composer Maurice Jarre. Soon afterward, the leitmotif became the basis of the song `` Somewhere, My Love ''. In 1967, `` Somewhere my love '' was nominated for the Grammy Award for Song of the Year. It lost to `` Michelle '' by The Beatles. Contents 1 Original composition 2 Variations 3 Vocal recordings 4 Legacy 5 References 6 External links Original composition While working on the soundtrack for Doctor Zhivago, Maurice Jarre was asked by director David Lean to come up with a theme for the character of Lara, played by Julie Christie. Initially Lean had desired to use a well - known Russian song but could not locate the rights to it, and delegated responsibility to Jarre. After several unsuccessful attempts at writing it, Lean suggested to Jarre that he go to the mountains with his girlfriend and write a piece of music for her. Jarre says that the resultant piece was `` Lara 's Theme '', and Lean liked it well enough to use it in numerous tracks for the film. In editing Zhivago, Lean and producer Carlo Ponti reduced or outright deleted many of the themes composed by Jarre ; Jarre was angry because he felt that an over-reliance on `` Lara 's Theme '' would ruin the soundtrack. Jarre 's esthetic fears notwithstanding, the theme became an instant success and gained fame throughout the world. By special request of Connie Francis, Paul Francis Webster later took the theme and added lyrics to it to create `` Somewhere, My Love ''. Francis, however, withdrew from the project when the lyrics were presented to her because she thought of them as too `` corny ''. A few weeks later, Francis reconsidered her position and recorded the song nonetheless, but by then Ray Conniff had also recorded a version of his own, reaching # 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1966. Conniff 's version of the song also topped the `` Easy listening '' chart in the U.S. for four weeks. Despite Conniff 's success, Francis also had her version released as a single, and although it failed to chart in the US, it became one of her biggest successes internationally, becoming one of the `` Top 5 '' in territories such as Scandinavia and Asia. In Italy, her Italian version of the song, `` Dove non so '', became her last # 1 success. Various other versions of it have since been released. Italio - American tenor, Sergio Franchi covered the song as `` Somewhere, My Love '' in his 1967 RCA Victor album From Sergio -- With Love. Harry James recorded a version on his album The King James Version ( Sheffield Lab LAB 3, 1976 ). A music box plays `` Lara 's Theme '' at the beginning of the film The Spy Who Loved Me ( 1977 ). Variations On the soundtrack album for Zhivago, there is no one track listed as `` Lara 's Theme ''. A variation of the piece appears in numerous sections, however. Some tracks briefly cite it, while others are composed entirely from the motif. The orchestration is varied, most notably with balalaika and orchestra. One of the main reasons the theme is featured in so many tracks is that Lean had hired an impromptu balalaika orchestra from several Russian Orthodox Churches in Los Angeles ; the musicians could only learn 16 bars of music at a time, and could not read written music. Edgar Stanistreet, a street musician from Philadelphia, claimed that he was asked to play the song over the telephone to an MGM executive, and was later taken into the studio to record. He was not credited, however. Tracks which feature it include ( from the 1995 Extended Soundtrack release ) : 1 ) Overture -- a fast - paced march version of it plays during part of the pre-credits overture 2 ) Main Title -- a significant portion of the Main Theme is devoted to `` Lara 's Theme '' 3 ) Kontakion / Funeral Song -- briefly cited at the end of the piece 12 ) After Deserters Killed The Colonel -- again, a brief `` quote '' from it appears at the end of the song 14 ) Lara Says Goodbye To Yuri -- The first extensive use of `` Lara 's Theme '' is a sad version played with heavy balalaika and violin sections 23 ) Yuri Follows the Sound of the Waterfall 24 ) Tonya and Yuri Arrive At Varykino -- briefly cited in the middle of the track 27 ) Yuri and the Daffodils -- plays during the `` changing of seasons '' part of the film, the montonous winter theme builds into a full - fledged rendition of `` Lara 's Theme '' 28 ) On A Yuriatin Street -- a complete rendition with full orchestral backing 29 ) In Lara 's Bedroom 30 ) Yuri Rides To Yuriatin 33 ) Yuri Is Escaping -- a gloomy military march is punctuated by a quote from `` Lara 's Theme '' which ultimately turns into a climax 37 ) Yuri Is Trying To Write 39 ) Lara Reads Her Poem 42 ) Then It 's A Gift ( End Title ) -- very similar to `` On A Yuriatin Street '', a complete, triumphant final rendition of the song This soundtrack also includes jazz, rock ' n ' roll, and swing versions of `` Lara 's Theme '' which were performed by the MGM Studio Orchestra between takes. Vocal recordings Vocal versions include recordings by Connie Francis ( in English as Somewhere, My Love, in Spanish as Sueño de Amor, and in Italian as Dove non so, which was also sung in Italian by Rita Pavone ), by The Ray Conniff Singers ( in English as Somewhere, My Love ), by Ivan Rebroff in Russian and English and as well as Karel Gott and Peter Alexander in German as Weißt du, wohin. Tereza Kesovija sang it first in France, and then by John William and by Les Compagnons de la Chanson ( in French as La Chanson de Lara ). Tereza Kesovija and Marjana Deržaj also recorded Lara 's Theme in Yugoslavia as Larina pjesma respectively Larina pesem. Andy Williams released a version in 1967 on his album, Born Free. In 1966 Mrs. Miller covered the song in her second Capitol Records album Will Success Spoil Mrs. Miller ? Legacy A version of `` Somewhere, My Love '' is played in the elevator scene of Super Mario Bros. ( film ) when Luigi teaches the Goombas to dance. References Jump up ^ The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th Edition, 1996 Jump up ^ http://www.discogs.com Archived 2012 - 04 - 21 at the Wayback Machine. Sergio Franchi External links Main Title of `` Doctor Zhivago '' ( Rhapsody ) Only available to United States Internet users. Preceded by `` The Impossible Dream ( The Quest ) '' by Jack Jones Billboard Easy Listening Singles number - one single ( Ray Conniff & The Singers version ) July 30, 1966 ( 4 weeks ) Succeeded by `` I Could n't Live Without Your Love '' by Petula Clark Boris Pasternak 's Doctor Zhivago Characters Yuri Zhivago Adaptations Doctor Zhivago ( 1965 film ) Doctor Zhivago ( 2002 miniseries ) Doctor Zhivago ( 2011 musical ) Music `` Lara 's Theme '' Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lara%27s_Theme&oldid=821136902 '' Categories : 1965 compositions Songs with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster Andy Williams songs Billboard Adult Contemporary number - one singles Instrumentals Songs written for films Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links Articles needing additional references from September 2010 All articles needing additional references All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from December 2017 Articles with permanently dead external links Talk Contents About Wikipedia Brezhoneg Français Hrvatski Nederlands Norsk Português Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Edit links This page was last edited on 18 January 2018, at 16 : 49. 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Question: who wrote lara's theme from dr. zhivago
Answer: composer Maurice Jarre