What happened to the old theme music?
The Masterpiece Theatre theme was introduced at the inception of the series in 1971, and became widely recognizable for more than 30 years. The original theme was written by Jean-Joseph Mouret (1682-1738), and is the first movement of Mouret’s “First Suite in D,” from his second book of Fanfares for Trumpets, Kettledrums, Violins and Oboes (published in Paris, ca. 1729). In 2008, Masterpiece introduced a fresh take on the series’ famous original theme music. Each of the three yearly “seasons” of Masterpiece will have a variation on the theme music. You can hear the original theme music and the new Masterpiece classic theme on this website.
