The 1998 movie, "Elizabeth," directed by Shekhar Kapur, from a script by Michael Hirst, is a historical epic that takes place during and after the mid-16th-century period when England's Princess Elizabeth was nearly eliminated by her half-sister, Queen Mary. It portrays the events of Mary's death, Elizabeth's ascension to the throne, and the struggles and events that she must overcome in order to preserve the strength of the English Monarchy, and establish Protestantism as the chief English religion. She must also maintain her stability and safety as a female ruler in a male-dominated society. Composer David Hirschfelder's soundtrack to the film Elizabeth nicely evokes the spirit of the era to which this British monarch lent her name; the music also proves adept at capturing the picture's drama and intrigue without the bombast which so often sinks scores of this kind. In Elizabeth film use a full orchestra with choir fights against thundering hoofs, roaring flames that shoot through the cinema; traditional instruments vie with synthesizers; all the while an unsettling wind cries outside the echoing chambers.
The movie opens with its title theme "Overture" chorus provides a rousing, dramatic opening to the movie an immense choral and orchestral power full of suspense, darkness, and kind of scary and intimidated at all at the same time. It really is one of the best orchestral pieces I have ever come across, has a more melancholy and mystical feel, which complements the atmosphere of the film completely yet subtly. The purpose of film music is solely to guide the audience's emotions and feelings. Not only does this soundtrack fulfill this perfectly, alone it is a masterpiece and a beautiful orchestration of stunning original music rich in strings, percussion, and voices, with surprisingly few individual roles for instruments like the harpsichord and harp, which better define the era.