Davis was born in Anaheim, California. After graduating from high school, Davis enrolled at UCLA. He continued his study of musical composition with tutor Henri Lazarof. Additionally, he learned orchestration from Albert Harris. During their orchestration lessons, Harris introduced Davis to the TV composer Joe Harnell, who supported Davis during his search for work—his first job was working for composer Mark Snow's TV show Hart to Hart. He has worked as an orchestrator and conductor for Michael Kamen, Alan Silvestri, James Horner, and Randy Newman.
Davis won Emmys in 1990 for Beauty and the Beast and 1995 for SeaQuest DSV. He wrote scores mostly for television series up until 1995, in which he wrote a few of the cues for the animated Disney motion picture A Goofy Movie. He continued to score television series until the two then young directors, the Wachowskis, hired him to score their neo-noir film Bound. It was reasonably successful at the box office. Bound was the film which led Davis into becoming the composer for the entire Matrix trilogy. Subsequently, Davis has composed scores for films such as Jurassic Park III (recommended to the filmmakers by John Williams, the composer of the scores for the first two films in the series), House on Haunted Hill, Behind Enemy Lines, and The Unsaid. In 2004, he produced the music score for the BBC science fiction documentary series Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets, released as Voyage to the Planets and Beyond in the United States.
Davis' magnum opus is Matrix franchise: The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, and The Animatrix. It was set apart from other film scores of its time for its atonality and avant garde style of composition, with influences from polytonal minimalist works like John Adams' Short Ride in a Fast Machine and cluster-like as well as aleatoric techniques prominent in the works of composer Witold Lutosławski.
Don Davis' dark opera, Río de Sangre, received its premiere at the Florentine Opera Company on October 22, 2010. Previously, excerpts from the opera were performed in Los Angeles with the Los Angeles Master Chorale on November 6, 2005, and the New York City Opera on May 13, 2007.
Maintitle
Don Davis Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
As the lyrics to Don Davis's song Maintitle are instrumental, there are no specific words to interpret. Instead, the music serves as a powerful tool to convey emotions and themes that may be relevant to the context in which it is used. The overall mood of the song is ominous and foreboding, with deep horns and percussion creating a sense of impending danger. There are moments of tension as the tempo increases, and moments of quiet reflection in the slower sections.
The song was famously used as the main theme for the 1999 science fiction film The Matrix, directed by the Wachowskis. It serves to introduce the viewer to the dystopian world in which the film is set, where the line between reality and illusion becomes blurred. The music reflects the uncertainty and danger present in that world, as well as the sense of rebellion and hope represented by the film's protagonist, Neo.
Overall, Don Davis's Maintitle is a powerful and evocative piece of music that sets the tone for The Matrix and its themes of paranoia, rebellion, and the quest for truth. Through its use of instrumentation and composition, it effectively conveys the world in which the film is set and the emotions of its characters.
Line by Line Meaning
INSTRUMENTAL
This part of the song does not contain any lyrics; it consists only of instrumental music without any vocals.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DON DAVIS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind